


catch him if you can

by blazingsirius



Category: NCT (Band), WayV (Band)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Medical, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Crimes & Criminals, Forensics, Friendship, M/M, Murder Mystery, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, also please guess who the murderer/serial killer is, also random appearances by SM chinese line, and yangyang as an IT expert because why not, hencas as CSI twins, or maybe yes, ten as a forensic doctor, we have kunwinjun as detectives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28522602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazingsirius/pseuds/blazingsirius
Summary: There's nothing worse than having a serial killer constantly haunting your mind. Beijing Haidian Police Station had been receiving two bodies so far, potentially from the same murderer, all addressed to Detective Qian Kun—the Team Leader of the Homicide Unit. Two bodies, whose deaths were both linked to misuse of medications, were quickly nicknamed the Medicine Murder. Forensic Specialist Dr. Li Yongqin was transferred in order to assist the detective in the investigation, alongside Detective Qian's loyal sidekicks: Detective Dong Sicheng and Detective Xiao Dejun.The four people were quickly engaged in a race against time to stop bodies from coming.Whoever the killer is, the bastard is definitely one genius scum. Perhaps, the blind hunt that was bound to happen will bring friendship, love, and a blast from the past to the quartet. It's going to be a matter of brain and luck to catch him, the killer. That... if they could.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun
Comments: 21
Kudos: 75
Collections: #KunFanWeek2021





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [catch him if you can](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/737085) by byuntaefangull. 



> For #KunFanWeek2021 Day 3: action. actually, this is more heavy on the ~thinking~ portion of a crime AU rather than the action part, but the jay chou song used as the prompt was very befitting as a soundtrack for this fic! (((and also there's a lack of kunten fic in this kind of setting so that's why i'm pushing my kunten as genius duo agenda)))
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> 1\. This fic was originally posted on AFF under different casts and only a few minor differences on the storyline, but both stories are mine and not plagiarized. I have linked the original version too if you want to see it! (hint: it has jaehyun, johnny, doyoung, and yeri from red velvet in it!)  
> 2\. I am a medical school graduate (I have a bachelor degree in Medicine, and I'm currently a medical intern) and I have received education on medical forensic, so the medical related facts (medications, procedures, etc.) are correct. BUT, I have no experience working for law enforcement agencies, so anything related to laws, as well as police and prosecution investigations, are all fictional.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How it all started.

Kun was feeling over the moon. He finally finished a difficult case, and then granted a week of vacation, enabling him to finally spend some time with his parents in Fujian, and then departing to Qingdao to have a summer vacation in their beautiful beaches. It was fun and refreshing to be paid off-duty after being cooped up in the office for a month solving a difficult case.

He entered the coffee shop with light steps, throwing smiles and greetings to the waiters that were customized to seeing him early in the morning, grinning from ear to ear when he saw the familiar back of his partner ordering in the counter.

"Please add one tall cup of iced americano, less sugar," Kun said as he slung an arm on the man's shoulder. The man looked back in shock but grinned nonetheless before offering his card to the confused cashier.

"Yeah, please add that to my order."

The two men waited for their order before walking back together to the precinct, coffee in hand.

"How was your holiday, Dejun?"

"Great. It's a pity that I could only visit them for 4 days, but hey, better than nothing. It's good to see my parents again. They were healthy and happy in their new house."

"Still trying to convince them to go back to Beijing?" Kun teased.

"Nah, I've given up on that a long time ago. They preferred Hong Kong. Their new home was nice and comfortable too. Much better than the apartments here," the man, Dejun, or Xiaojun, answered.

"Anyways, how's your vacation, _ge_? Qingdao, eh?"

Kun grinned, "Marvelous. A lot of seafood and beach volleyball. Finally, I got to unwind. I hope we don't have to work on a case anytime soon. Strangely, I'm okay dealing with paper works for a while."

"It’s weird to hear you say that you prefer a desk job rather than going in field but after our previous case, I second to that," Dejun nodded with a grin as they entered the precinct ground. He was just opening the front door when one of the officers from IT department ran towards them in distraught.

"Detective Qian! Detective Qian!"

Kun recognized him as Officer Liu Yangyang, one of the newest recruits from the IT department.

"What's wrong, Officer Liu?"

The man panted and fanned himself, "Someone… sent something to your desk!"

"A package, you mean?" Kun raised his brows.

The young officer nodded vigorously.

"And so? Is it some food gone bad that I received while I was off-duty?" Kun blinked confusedly.

No one ever got agitated about incoming packages unless it's a food gone bad. Man, the smell will kill the office. He rarely got sent mails or packages into the office. Mostly, his packages are documents or mails from other detectives in other precinct asking for assistance. So, nothing major that would require a rookie officer to go berserk like this.

"No! Er… You gotta see it yourself. The new chief went nuts!"

Kun turned to Dejun who looked equally as confused as him.

The new chief went nuts? If anything, Chief Fan was much calmer and more patient compared to their previous chief. It would take great lengths to agitate him. There's definitely something wrong.

He took a sip of his coffee and walked briskly inside, finding a hoard of officers crowding his desk.

"What's with the commotion?" He wondered out loud.

People are piled around his desk and the usually calm Chief Fan is barking orders left and right. Even the twins from CSI who loved their basement more than anything are here.

Weird.

"Detective Qian!"

Kun recognized the guy as Detective Dong Sicheng from Narcs division. The man waved him over and the crowd turned silent and opened up a path for him to walk. His nose caught an unpleasant putrid smell and he found a big blue box sitting atop his desk.

"What is t—What the fuck?!" Kun balked when he saw what was inside the box.

It was a body. Twisted in an inhumane way to fit into the box, halfway through the decaying process.

> _ For the mighty Detective Qian Kun.  _
> 
> _ p.s catch me if you can; i can't wait to see you again:) _


	2. beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Yongqin's first day in Haidian, and Kun is welcomed by a new body.

" _Yo! Cheng! You gotta see this!”_

Sicheng looked up from his documents uninterestedly to see his friend jumping around while holding an envelope.

"What, _ge_? I'm currently stuck in a difficult case," he grumbled.

"Aren't you always?" Yongqin snickered.

Sicheng chuckled, giving in to his older friend, "Alright, alright. What is it?"

Yongqin grinned before fishing a piece of paper and shoving it to Sicheng's face. "Tadaah! I'm being moved to your station! From now on I'll be able to see you at work every day! Yay!"

Sicheng gaped before snatching the paper from him. He blinked his eyes as he scanned the document. It was correct. Yongqin received a promotion from the forensic department in Dongcheng to Haidian.

"Whaaat? _Ge_!" Sicheng laughed before pulling the older guy into a hug.

Yongqin laughed, "I know. Supposedly your precinct needs my expertise. I'm not really sure myself, but Fei _jie_ ’s husband was the one who requested the transfer."

"Chief Fan?" Sicheng pulled away.

"Yep. Chief Fan Zhoumi said there's a potential serial killer and he needs someone to fill the forensic specialist position since one of the workers left due to marriage if I'm not mistaken. And then Fei _jie_ recommended me to him," Yongqin shrugged.

Sicheng nodded. It makes sense. Their current forensic doctor, Dr. Lu, works alone since his partner Dr. Song moved to Shanghai after getting married. With the alarming number of cases they've been getting, they definitely need a new forensic specialist. There aren't that many cases in Dongcheng according to Yongqin, maybe that's why he got transferred.

"When will you be working then?"

Yongqin grinned, "Tomorrow! Chief Fan said he will introduce me to the detectives I'll be assisting. I think they're gonna be one of your friends. How many detectives are there?"

Sicheng shrugged, "There are two teams. I am currently working for team 1 now, with my team captain Kun and our junior, Dejun. Team 2 is led by Detective Liu Xianhua, consisting of only Yixing _ge_. Maybe you'll work with Detective Liu’s team because I was moved from their team to team 1."

Yongqin shrugged, "I was hoping I'll work with you; you know."

"And have you annoyed the shit out of me 24/7? Whee. Fun," Sicheng commented dryly.

Yongqin punched his friend for his sarcastic remarks, " _Aiya_! I'll tell your mom!"

* * *

Yongqin entered the precinct nervously. He was directed to go to the forensic room which was on the basement. He knocked the glass door twice before entering, instantly face to face with a short male using wire rimmed glasses.

"You must be the new forensic specialist?"

Yongqin bowed, "Ah, yes, I'm Dr. Li Yongqin. Nice to meet you…"

"Han. Lu Han."

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Lu. I'll work hard, please take care of me," he bowed.

The man smiled, "Come sit down. Zhoumi _ge_ will be here any second."

The guy directed her to his office, passing the morgue on their way there.

"Is that the morgue?"

"You guessed that right. Come, this is my office. Take a seat. Your new office will be next door."

He nodded and hesitantly sat down on the couch. Not long after that, the door opened, revealing a familiar man.

"Oh, Yongqin, you're here."

"Chief Fan," he bowed respectfully.

" _Ge_."

Chief Fan Zhoumi brushed off Dr. Lu casually as the three of them sat down. "So, I think both of you are quite surprised with the sudden transfer. As you know, Dr. Song transferred to Shanghai for marriage and we still haven't got a replacement yet. And then the Medicine Murder case is getting bigger too, we need someone with extensive knowledge in drugs to help us. Feifei recommended me you, and I contacted your superior in Haidian. Everyone seemed to acknowledge your talent, that's why I requested for your transfer. Thankfully, they approved of your transfer."

"Ah, thank you very much, Chief."

"Anyways, the case that has been bugging us for the past two months is called the Medicine Murder. It is currently being taken care of by our team of homicide detectives, but it seemed like it was a meticulously planned murder since the body was always sent to one particular detective in this precinct. Dr. Lu can brief you later about the past two bodies that had come before, but first I'd like to introduce you to the team that handled this case. Let's go upstairs and I'll bring you to them."

Yongqin nodded dutifully before standing up. He bowed at Dr. Lu and bid goodbye before following Chief Fan outside towards the elevator.

"So, Chief, the murderer... has some problem with your detective? Why did he send the bodies to him?" Yongqin asked curiously inside the elevator.

Chie Fan shrugged, "That… baffled us as well. That detective of ours has a clean record, graduated from the academy with honors, and has a brilliant case-solving record. It's weird. See him yourself and make your own judgement. I used to be his team leader so I knew him pretty well."

Yongqin nodded as the elevator stopped.

"Come."

He excitedly followed him. He hoped he'll come across Sicheng there.

"This is my office. The detectives are probably in the meeting room discussing the case. I'll call them here. Sit down."

Yongqin nodded and sat down on the couch, fiddling with the sleeves of his white coat nervously. Is this going to be the Liu Xianhua that Sicheng talked about last night?

"Chief!" A tiny guy with brown hair entered the room with a smile.

"Xiaojun, sit down. Where's the others?"

"Ah, still meddling with the murder board, making up theories, bickering… The usual. They’ll be here shortly."

"Oh, okay. This is Dr. Li, the one I told you earlier this morning."

"Oh, the new forensic? Hi, I'm Xiao Dejun. Or just Xiaojun," the man smiled, his eyes crinkling.

"I'm Li Yongqin. Nice to me—"

"Chief! Sorry, we're late! We were—Yongqin _ge_?!"

Yongqin nearly jumped from his seat when he saw his long-time friend entering the room.

"Oh, Cheng!"

Chief Fan and Dejun exchanged confused glances as another guy entered the room while panting.

" _Ya_! Sicheng! Wait!"

"You guys know each other?" Dejun blinked curiously.

"Yeah. He’s my friend. Why?" Sicheng answered casually as he plopped down next to him, nudging him in the process which earned him a grumble from the shorter male.

"Great! Ah, I totally forgot that the two of you know each other. Well, I can skip the awkward introduction phase between the two of you then! Anyways, Qian, Xiao, this is Dr. Li Yongqin. He's the drug specialist and new forensic staff that will assist you in the Medicine Murder case!" Chief Fan grinned.

"He—what? Chief!" 

Yongqin blinked as he watched his friend bickered with his chief. He's a bit hurt because it seems like his friend doesn't want to work with him but it's not like he can butt in into their arguments either.

“Sssht! We need all the help we can, Cheng. Thank you for the additional help, Chief,” the team leader said, bowing deeply, ignoring Sicheng’s protest.

"Detective Qian, go the meeting room and brief him. And Detective Dong, introduce him to your other two friends here. I got paper works to do. Now shoo! Off you go, out of my office, all of you!" Chief Fan chased them out with a fly swatter and the four people had no choice but leave.

Sicheng grunted as he briskly walked away. The case he's working on is nasty. His team captain, his best friend in the whole precinct, is the main target of the murderer's taunts. The last thing he wants is to involve another close friend of his in it.

“So, you know Sicheng?” the team captain… Qian? Asked.

"Uhm, yeah, actually. We’ve known each other since we’re young," Yongqin said, glancing at the man. Wow, the dude is kind of cute.

The guy grinned, "I'm Kun. Somehow a friend of your friend. And that cute midget there, is Dejun. He’s the youngest between us three."

Yongqin nodded in interest as they entered the meeting room. He glanced at a fully loaded lead board with pictures of bodies in it along with information.

"When you told me that you'll be moving here last night, I thought you'll be assigned to Xianhua _ge_ 's team," Sicheng spoke up as he sat down in a chair next to Yongqin.

"I just found out this morning too. Why is it? Are you disappointed? Or are you looking down on me?" Yongqin grumbled.

Sicheng eyed him and he rolled his eyes, "Oh, please. I know how great you are. But it's just… dangerous. So, I'm… a bit restless."

"How sweet of you, _ge_. Never seen him like this," Dejun grinned, earning a pen thrown into his direction from Sicheng.

Kun sat down silently as he studied the two friends. He could clearly see how much the cold and aloof Sicheng actually cared a lot for his friend. And he could see Sicheng’s friend? Brother? Is one stubborn soul. It's intriguing, really.

"Anyways, we still need to brief him. Chief's order. Captain _ge_ ," Sicheng spoke up, glancing at Kun.

"Fine, fine. I’ll do it," Kun rolled his eyes before standing up. Yongqin swung his feet as he watched the cute muscular guy moved near the murder board.

"So. Medicine murder. 2 bodies in a span of two months. All bodies died due to specific reasons triggered by medicine. This one is Quan Fangzhou. 24 years old college students. He was taking a master degree in engineering. Estimated death time at 10 p.m. Cause of death according to Dr. Lu is asphyxiation."

"There were no strangulation marks. Covered with pillow or something?" Yongqin mumbled as he examined the picture closely. The body looks like it has started the decaying process.

"Nice guess, but no. He had Bisoprolol overdoses."

"Bisoprolol? That's a non-selective beta blocker. Affected not only the heart but also the beta receptors in the airway. May caused bronchospasm. Bisoprolol is intended for patients with cardiovascular disease. 24 years old seems too young to be consuming CVS medications," Yongqin raised his brows as he rambled incoherently, mainly to himself.

"That's why it's classified as murder."

"So, the cause of death was bronchospasm?"

"We suspected that's not the main cause of death even though it might make dying a bit easier. But he was shipped to this precinct after his death and we didn't have a crime scene to investigate so CSI and forensic are a bit unsure. Maybe you can go check the body again later with Dr. Lu," Kun explained.

"Okay… But _Detective Qian_ , his joints… seems a little funny. He had broken his bones as well?"

"First of all, no need to get so formal. You’re older than Sicheng?”

“Yeah, by a year.”

“We’re a same-age friends, then. Just call me Kun. And regarding the joints…. Sicheng? Can you take over? I'll pitch in but I need to finish this report first," Kun asked as he sat down to finish whatever he's writing that he left unattended when Chief called him moments ago. 

Sicheng nodded and cleared his throat, "Each victim are folded into a blue cardboard box, shipped directly to this precinct. The act of folding a body into a box required solutions to fit the body in. The murderer acquired it by breaking the bones and joints."

"Oh, wow," Yongqin gulped as he imagined the grotesque scene.

"Well, shall we move to the next victim?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Sicheng moved to the right side of the board. "Qin Yifei. 26 years old. Any interesting marks except the broken bones?" Sicheng playfully challenged his friend.

"The body looks pretty decayed, like the previous one. Maybe four or five days? It's hard to determine without getting hands on," Yongqin peered on the pictures carefully.

Kun who was listening silently smiled. His observation is proven true. Yongqin is one bright lad with a knack in forensic. His team is going to be truly blessed with his genius brain.

"Correct. Dr. Lu predicted the body had decayed for five days when it arrived here. Anything you can deduce though?" Kun raised his brows

"Wow, are we grilling him? Dr. Li, prove him wrong!" Dejun grinned from his spot excitedly.

"Go on Kun, this little tweety could have a little test before joining the squad," Sicheng piped in as he cackled evilly, earning a glare from Yongqin. Kun examined them closely, they looked close to each other and they looked like they have a healthy friendship.

"Well, the lips are in a bluish…. dark color? It could have been due to hypoxia. Central hypoxia. Just an educated guess. I won’t know for sure until I opened up the body myself."

"Whoa… he's smart," Dejun commented.

"Oh, I'm right?" Yongqin turned his head and the guy gave him a thumbs up.

"Great job, _ge_ ," Sicheng grinned.

"Victim died due to cardiac arrest. Dr. Lu said he found an alarming amount of Captopril in the patient's system."

"Another CVS medication? A human can take up to 100 mg of captopril daily, but that's like… for patients with extreme cases like diabetic nephropathy and a 26 years old girl doesn't seem to suffer from it," Yongqin scratched his head.

Sicheng read some of Dr. Lu's note on the board before nodding. "Dr. Lu predicted that the patient had at least 200 mg of captopril in her body."

"Now that's lethal," Yongqin nodded.

"We were torn between two theories: a serial killer or a copycat murder. But both bodies are treated the same. Decayed for days, folded, and stuffed into a cardboard box, tied with ribbons, sent here specifically to Kun _ge_ ," Dejun shrugged.

"And… they both died due medicinal use. CVS medication to be exact. That is enough leads to point it out as a related murder," Kun nodded.

"That's interesting. Maybe later I could go back down and ask Dr. Lu about the body. He seemed like a cool guy."

"Dr. Lu is as cool as a cucumber. Pretty stoic, but effective in his work and incredibly talented too. It'll be a great opportunity for you to be his apprentice," Sicheng smiled kindly at his friend, the small act doesn't go unnoticed by the ever-observant Kun.

Yongqin was about to open his mouth when someone barged in, panting, while holding the door handle.

"Detective Qian!"

"Oh? Detective Zhang? Yixing _ge_ , calm down, what's wrong? Need help? Where's Xianhua _ge_?" Kun asked calmly.

"No, no. There's another package sent for you…. The blue box one."

"Oh, shit."

* * *

Yongqin ran along, trying to catch up with the two taller guys and the one tiny quick dude that bolted out at the speed of light.

"Wow, so much of welcoming me into their squad," Yongqin rolled his eyes as he approached the commotion.

A strong putrid scent could be smelled from a far. Stinky, dead body smell. Yongqin could see Kun looking furious and depressed at the same time, judging from his expression and the tightening of his jaw. Sicheng looked stoic as ever, and Dejun looked comical almost with his mouth gaping. He approached the commotion, and thankfully Dejun spotted him.

"Wanna take a look?" Dejun asked gently, glancing at the older guy.

The man nodded confidently before stepping forward, standing next to his friend.

Sicheng jolted when he felt Yongqin’s presence, " _Ge_ …"

"Let me see. I deal with this all the time," he shrugged casually as he examined the nasty thing in front of him.

A body of a man, twisted and folded certain ways inside a blue cardboard box. A black ribbon tied on each of his wrists. There was blood everywhere and nasty signs of trauma on his bodies. Quite different from the pictures he saw in the meeting room.

"The body's beginning to decay. If I should take an educated guess…. Four days. Hence the smell and the maggots," Yongqin said with a grimace.

Kun nodded his head. Yongqin knew a lot for sure.

"I'll contact CSI and asked them to bring the body to the morgue," Dejun said before ushering other officers to leave the scene.

Chief Fan appeared from his office looking distraught. "Another body?"

"Yes, chief. We were correct. It was a pattern. Once every month," Kun spoke up.

"Call the CSI, bring the body to the morgue to Dr. Lu. Oh, there's Dr. Li as well. Your first body, Yongqin. Please help Dr. Lu investigate," he ordered.

"I've called the CSI twins, chief. Xuxi and Guanheng are heading up," Dejun said.

"Alright, shall we go to the morgue then?" Kun sighed dejectedly.

CSI came to investigate and relocated the body to the morgue. Dejun offered to stay back to supervise while Kun and Sicheng headed to the morgue alongside with Yongqin.

"Dr. Lu," Kun bowed as he entered the morgue.

"Detective Qian. What's wrong? Need another testimony?" The forensic doctor asked.

"No, Doc. We… actually had a new body sent to me this morning. Maybe you can investigate it... with Dr. Li here. It's not his first autopsy, but well… first of this case," Kun explained.

"Okay, we'll get right through it. Dr. Li? Follow me."

Yongqin glanced at Sicheng, shooting his friend a thumbs up. Kun found their interaction quite endearing. He knew Sicheng is not this kind of guy normally. They both turned around to see the CSI team carrying the body and bringing it to the metal table where Yongqin and Dr. Lu awaited.

"Hi, _da ge!_ No clues about the sender, just like the last time," the CSI guy informed to Kun.

"Thanks, Guanheng." Kun followed Sicheng to approach the table where the naked body is laid on.

"Since I have an assistant, result may come a bit faster. I'll try to have the report out after lunch," Dr. Lu informed.

"Thank you so much, Dr. Lu."

"Or, you know what? I'll have Dr. Li informed you once in a while too so you can start on the lead board. You can go back to your office, Detective Qian, Detective Dong."

Kun turned at the new forensic guy. He looked pretty optimistic. The guy smiled at him and Sicheng, and somehow, that eases his nerves a bit.

"Shall we get to work, Dr. Li?"

"Yes, Dr. Lu!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any guesses about the cause of death so far?;)
> 
> hmu on twitter, @nauranindyaa !


	3. sleeping pill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Yongqin to do his first ever autopsy in Haidian and the result might baffle the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun facts:  
> \- liver mortis: bruising/bruise-like marks found in dead bodies  
> \- rigor mortis: a condition in which a body stiffened after death  
> both are used to determine time (or in same cases, also) case of death.

Yongqin examined the body closely, taking notes of each lesions he found.

"There are shards of glass, and the seatbelt sign too. Probably a car accident?" Yongqin turned to the senior guy who smiled at him.

"That’s right. You figured it out pretty quickly. You're a bright one. I contacted your senior in Dongcheng. She said you'll be a great help. Well, she was right!"

Yongqin blushed, "Ah... thank you, _Dr. Lu_ _."_

"Anyways, what do you think of Detective Qian and his friends?" Dr. Lu said as he picked up a magnifying glass to examine the victim’s hands.

“They’re nice. Detective Xiao is kind of cute, he’s younger than us apparently. The team leader? Detective Qian? He seemed very nice, but he doesn’t talk that much. And Detective Dong… I am actually friends with him!" Yongqin smiled as he examined the joints, noticing the broken joints. There are possibilities the body is folded before it decayed.

"Oh, you’re friends with Detective Dong? A bit of a surprise, really. You seemed very outgoing and bright, unlike him. I think you’ll be good friends with Detective Xiao. A very bright young lad, he is. And Detective Qian, you should trust him."

"Trust him?"

"He’s very caring towards his team. Very polite too, everyone liked him. Anyways, shall we give the tissue sample to the CSI? Ask them to run it down in their system and check if there are any medicine in it."

"Oh, okay. Where can I find the CSI team?" Yongqin asked as he disposed his gloves.

"It's on the same floor. Just go left after exiting this morgue. Find Officer Huang. Uhm, never mind, they are twins. Either one of them. Xuxi or Guanheng. They were the only Huangs there."

"Okay, I'll get there," Yongqin packed the sample into a small tube and sealed it in a zip lock bag before walking out of the morgue to the said CSI office.

He was greeted by a guy whom he recognized as one of the men who carried the body to the morgue.

"Excuse me, I'm Dr. Li Yongqin from Forensic. Dr. Lu appointed me to give this sample to Officer Huang."

"Which Huang? There are two. I’m a Huang but—well, you know what, never mind. Come inside," the man smiled.

Yongqin blinked in confusion but followed the man anyway.

"I'm Huang Xuxi. Huang number one, older by two minutes and twenty-five seconds. And that is Huang Guanheng my twin brother. We don't look alike, I know. So, where's the sample?" The man chirped as he led him to his desk where a thin pretty boy is swiveling around in his chair.

"Oh, the new forensic staff! Dr. Song's replacement, huh? Hi! I'm Huang Guanheng!"

Yongqin smiled, "I'm Dr. Li Yongqin," he bowed to the chipper guy as he handed them the tube. He watched in awe as they extracted the sample and putting it in a tube, mixing it with something before putting it to a machine.

"The result will come in quick. Our database is regularly updated," The bulkier one of the two, Xuxi, explained.

Yongqin nodded as he watched the computer running. A result seemed to come out because the fraternal twins were both frowning at the screen.

"Wow, it's really another medicine. Poor Detective Qian. Wait, Dr. Li, let me print this out for you and Dr. Lu," Guanheng said.

"This has happened twice, right?" Yongqin asked.

"Yes. We don't understand why the killer would give it to Detective Qian. That man doesn't have any enemies, well, aside from murderers he captured."

"I know. He might seem intimidating upon first glance, but he actually looks like he could barely kill a fly," Yongqin nodded.

“You bet! Dr. Qian is the kindest soul here. When we first got here, he was the one who showed us around, and the one who appointed us as his most trusted,” Xuxi grinned.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He was the one who personally trained Dejun when he first joined. He’s a good guy. You should be thankful you’re assigned to his team.”

“Ah, I’m grateful then.”

“Anyways, we're his most trusted CSI staffs. Shall you require anything, feel free to come down here," Guanheng smiled kindly and winked his eye playfully.

Yongqin nodded with a chuckle before glancing at the paper. "Midazolam...?"

"Yeah. It's like… sedatives, right?" Guanheng piped in.

"True. But it broke away from the pattern. Hmm… You know what, thank you for running this for me. I'll have to report back to Dr. Lu and my team. Nice to meet you!" He bid them goodbye before running back to the morgue.

"Dr. Lu!"

"Oh, you're back Dr. Li."

"Yeah... I got the result. It’s... Midazolam."

"Midazolam? I was thinking it would be another CVS drug. I mean, the two previous bodies had CVS drugs in them. I thought that was the pattern," Dr. Lu frowned.

"Everyone thought so too, Doc. Should I inform the detectives?"

"Yeah sure. File them in. According to the wound profile, it was leading to a car accident but the livor mortis is inconsistent. We can’t depend on the rigor mortis either. We need further exam to determine this. Tell him that too. I'm going to open the body now; you can go ahead informing your team before joining me."

Yongqin nodded before stepping out to give the team a call, via Sicheng obviously, because that dude is the only one he knew the number of.

_ " _ _ Sicheng!” _

_ "Oh, Yongqin ge. Any news?" _

"Possible cause of death was a car accident. The wounds are consistent to it, though the livor mortis is suspicious and the rigor mortis is unreliable. We haven't open up the body but that was Dr. Lu's—and my guess. And then I went to the CSI... the body had Midazolam in it. A big, big amount to the point of near overdoses."

_ "Isn't that anesthesia? Wait, let me put this on loud speaker so Kun ge and Xiaojun could hear you as well. Yep, continue."  _

"Right. Well, Midazolam in injection form could be used for anesthetic purposes. We haven't checked the gut yet so we didn’t know for sure about the entry route. If there are residues in his stomach or intestine, it's probably taken orally as insomnia or anxiety medicine. Dr. Lu and I are going to open the body now. I'll call you later?"

_ "Insomnia? So, sleeping pill, huh? Alright. Thanks a lot, Dr. Li. I'll ask the guys to check for possible car crashes in the past week. I'll go downstairs before lunch."  _

_ Yongqin heard Detective Qian answered. _

_ " _ _ Well, s _ ure thing. Take care, _everyone_ ," he ended the call as he joined Dr. Lu who's having a great time sawing off the victim's ribs.

_ " _ Can I help, Dr. Lu?"

"Sure, sure. I've done opening of the thoracic cage. Please do the organ weighing. You can start from below and I'll start from the throat."

Yongqin nodded before grabbing a scalpel to start working. To confirm his suspicion, he took another sample from the stomach and the gut, preparing to send it to the CSI.

"GIT sample, Dr. Li?"

"Yeah. I was just wondering if it's injected Midazolam or ingested one."

"Nice suspicion. Ingested sleeping pill could be a great lead to the car accident."

"That was what I was thinking to, Doc. Midazolam provides sedation. Driving while under sedative influence could be deadly. Meanwhile the onset of injected Midazolam is quicker, so the victim would probably fall asleep without driving far."

Dr. Lu smiled. Chief Fan was correct. This new apprentice of him is a bright one that could help the murder investigation better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu at twt @nauranindyaa to discuss kunten, or forensic-y stuffs, or other things! slide into my mentions or dms y'all i'm bored:(


	4. qiao junhao

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yongqin did his first autopsy on the Medicine Murder case and shed some light to help Kun and his team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> glossary of abbreviations:  
> \- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation  
> \- CVS: cardiovascular systems  
> \- GIT: gastrointestinal tract  
> \- PAP: People's Armed Police (the national police force in China)

Yongqin ran back from the CSI office with a bright smile.

"Dr. Lu! There were residues of Midazolam in the stomach and the intestines. It was indeed ingested tablets!"

Dr. Lu smiled. "That's a great lead. Other than the Midazolam and accidents wound, there were no resistance signs, right?"

"Not that I know of, _Doc_. There were no grabbing marks, strangulation marks, and no trace of inhaled sedatives."

"The victim fell because of the Midazolam itself; I think. Which made me curious, did he really suffer from insomnia? Is this suicide? How could he take such great number of drugs without noticing?"

"That… I'm wondering too. Shall I help you finishing the report? I'll have to show it to the detectives."

"Yes, yes. I'm halfway down. Let's finish it together."

Yongqin worked in silence alongside Dr. Lu. There weren't any specific findings aside from the wounds and the midazolam trace, so they finished the report pretty quickly.

"It's lunch time. I usually go out for lunch. You want to go to your friends, right?" Dr. Lu said as he packed up his things.

"If I may..."

"Of course. Go ahead. Wow, it's nice to have a work partner for once. After Dr. Song left, I have to handle the two previous bodies by myself. Wasn't my most favorite thing in the world," he grimaced.

Yongqin laughed, "In the previous precinct, there were rarely any bodies. I was bored all the time."

Dr. Lu smiled, "Trust me, you’re going to be fully occupied here. Alright. I'll go ahead first."

Yongqin bowed and bid him goodbye before gathering the written reports. He took the elevator up, finding Sicheng on his desk immediately. He stood out with his great height. He noticed Detective Qian Kun’s desk next to his, and Detective Xiao Dejun’s desk on the corner next to Sicheng’s. All three guys were staring down at whatever on their desk, looking depressed.

"Uhm, hello? I've got the report?" He cleared his throat, catching the attention of the three detectives all at once.

"Oh, Dr. Li! Great!" Kun said in relief. He'd been stuck in probabilities while waiting for the forensic report.

"Can we discuss this over lunch, _ge_? I'm starving. Should we order _some food_? Eat in the meeting room, maybe?" Dejun piped.

"Sure. Make the order, Xiaojun," Kun nodded.

"How was it?" Sicheng turned to his friend as they waited for Dejun to order.

"It was fun! I barely had bodies to dissect in Dongcheng. Dr. Lu is cool. I went to the CSI and met these eccentric twins," Yongqin said.

Kun who was silent smiled, "Good then. I was worried you'll find difficulties fitting in. And this case is the worst too. I mean, I think it’s the worst I’ve done. Sicheng—"

“Agreed to that,” Sicheng said quickly.

"Is this the reason you've been going to your apartment more rather than home? _Ma_ _and_ _ba_ are always worried you know," Yongqin asked.

"The apartment's closer to the precinct. But now that you work here, I should consider going back home so I could give you a lift, right?" Sicheng grinned.

"Nice one. The subway heading here is way too packed for my liking," Yongqin grimaced.

Kun smiled as he observed the two of them.

" _Ge_ , I know you're observing. Stop it," Sicheng groaned without turning back, as if he knew what his friend is doing.

"Huh?"

"Kun _ge_ 's a behavior analyst. Be wary around him, he'll always study people," Sicheng rolled his eyes while Yongqin beamed.

"That's cool!"

Kun grinned, "Now someone finally admired my talent."

"Alright, Yongqin _ge_ , before we feed his ego further, let's just feed ourselves because I can see Dejun getting back with food. And let's get down to the case," Sicheng said as he stood up.

The four people found themselves back in the meeting room, eating _four bowls of noodles_ while casually asking the two friends some questions, winding down a bit before they have to face the case again.

"So, Sicheng _ge_ , how did you know Dr. Li Yongqin?" Dejun asked.

“Oh! Let me answer that! Um, so, I’ve known Sicheng since we’re small. And then my family moved to Beijing when I was in middle school. Sicheng’s parents decided to make him live with my family so he could attend school in Beijing too," Yongqin explained.

"Was he always acting as if he’s cool?”

“What the hell, _ge_ ,” Sicheng glared at Kun.

"Eh, it’s just a front. He could be a crackhead once you’ve known him well. I don’t even want to revive the memories of our stupid doings when we were kids," Yongqin shuddered. 

"Now that you’ve said it…" Kun smugly smiled at Sicheng.

“Yongqin _ge_! Don’t feed them!” Sicheng groaned.

“Oh, I’ll feed them well,” Yongqin laughed.

Kun smiled, already liking the new addition to their team.

"So, how was Sicheng _ge_ as a teen? Emo? Or weird?" Dejun grinned.

“Oh, he’s very silent. Is he silent too here?”

Dejun nodded, “I was scared of him.”

“What? Xiaojun!”

“What?! You were really scary, _ge_! Like, I was seriously thinking, maybe that’s why you worked for Narcs before. Your stoic face alone could scare away drug lords,” Dejun said expressively.

“Kun _ge_ is way more intimidating than me though,” Sicheng pointed out.

Kun rolled his eyes as he decided to ignore his younger friend.

Yongqin had to agree with that. His team leader is a kind person, well, judging from how comfortable Sicheng and Dejun were with him. Yes, he doesn’t talk much, and he was mostly just observing from the side. But he genuinely seems nice.

“Right, _ge_?”

“H-huh? Sorry?” Yongqin blinked his eyes when Sicheng turned to him.

“I was saying, Kun _ge_ has this kind of aura that surrounds him, right?”

Yongqin scratched his neck, clearly not wanting to offend his team leader on his first day of work.

“Uhm… Well… He seems nice? Just… maybe because he’s the leader, he has this kind of… commanding aura? A good thing considering he’s the captain, I supposed, but I was just… slightly… intimidated? But I swear he’s nice!” Yongqin stammered as he answered.

Dejun laughed, “Oh, Dr. Li! No one treated him like a leader here. Well… I clearly don’t, and Sicheng _ge_ , well, of course not.”

Kun chuckled, “Feel free to just view me as a friend, Dr. Li. I’ve accepted my fate.”

“Ah… I probably shouldn’t! I don’t want to be rude!”

“Trust me, Kun _ge_ can only get mad at criminals. He’s as patient as he normally looks. Not his intimidating looks! His normal look,” Dejun said.

“Wow, you talked about me as if I’m not here,” Kun clucked his tongue.

“You guys seemed pretty close,” Yongqin commented.

“Kun _ge_ and Sicheng _ge_ go waaay back, so, yeah, they’re close. I got close with Kun _ge_ because he was the one who trained me when I first got here,” Dejun smiled.

Kun smiled fondly at his junior, waiting for Dejun to continue talking.

“There were the three of us, me and the Huang twins when we entered this precinct. Have you met them?”

“Oh, yes! The CSI twins, right? An interesting pair,” Yongqin nodded.

“At the time, only the detective department and the CSI department were hiring. The twins wanted to go for CSI, and I was just, accepting fate. Kun _ge_ was working with Chief Fan at that time. Chief Fan was still the team leader at the time. He was going to be promoted to Chief, so Team 1 recruited me and Kun _ge_ had to train me. I was an awful—”

“No, you’re not, Xiaojun. You’re good, you’re just still not used to the job at that time. You’re a great partner,” Kun said immediately.

“See? Kun _ge_ is a softie like that. He’s only mean to criminals! Trust me!” Dejun laughed.

“What about Sicheng? He never told me stories of his work,” Yongqin said.

“I met Kun _ge_ in Police Academy,” Sicheng answered.

“Oh? I thought… Detective Qian is the same age as me…? And Sicheng entered the academy late as well…”

Kun laughed, “Oh, I am. I just… decided I wanted to work in law enforcement pretty late.”

“Ah… sorry,” Yongqin apologized sheepishly.

"Nah, nothing to be sorry for. Sicheng and I entered in the same year and we’re the oldest ones in our batch. We were both sent to work here, but he was originally teamed with Detective Liu and Detective Zhang. Dejun joined a year ago. Sicheng was moved to our team because we need all the help we can get with the situation of the current Medicine murder," Kun answered.

"Must've been fun working together. Anyways? You guys aren't done eating still? Wow. You know what? I'll go read the report and you guys can continue your feast. How’s that?" Yongqin offered.

"Right. Shoot on."

"Uhmm, so like I said on the phone earlier this day, according to the examination I conducted with Dr. Lu, the cause of death seemingly was car accident. Victim had a blunt trauma on his head, probably due to him slamming his head to the steering wheel. There's the seatbelt sign on his front, and he had bruised chest. Possibly because of the airbag inflating. There are tons of glass shards embedded on his skin as well. There was no resistance mark, no strangulation as well."

"So, he most likely drove on his own accord," Kun nodded.

"Maybe. And then I said on the phone that we found Midazolam on his system, which is a kind of sedative. It could be used for several things like for insomnia medication and even anesthesia. I sent his GIT sample to the CSI and found traces there. So, it's probably ingested Midazolam tablets, which are mainly used for chronic insomnia."

"CSI sent his data to Officer Liu to obtain the identity. The patient identity according to the database was Qiao Junhao, a 28 years old male. I called several hospitals in this area and none of them had his medical record. He's most likely a healthy man. Is it possible to acquire Midazolam without prescription?" Sicheng asked as he stood up. He finished eating and walked to the board to start jotting down information.

"No. Midazolam is quite potent and strong. You cannot get it without a doctor's prescription. It’s not something you can get easily over the counter, and even doctors don’t just prescribe midazolam right away. Is he from Haidian district?" Yongqin asked.

"Yeah. His ID stated so. But he had no medical records from nearby hospitals," Dejun added.

"It's getting clearer that whoever sick bastard is it, has a medical degree that allowed him to give direct medicines to his victims," Kun groaned.

"It's weird though. How could he give a sedative to someone willingly? When I opened up the stomach and gut, it was empty of solid food. Meaning the victim had nothing to eat within 6 to 8 hours before his death, aside from fluids, maybe," Yongqin asked.

"Is it possible to dilute it in water?" Sicheng asked.

"Yes, but it will show. They're blue in color. According to Officer Huang’s CSI findings, there was a high trace of Midazolam in his system. Normally people take around 7,5 until 15 grams of it once daily, but Officer Huang predicted that there are over 25 grams of it. No water will taste good with two tablets of crushed up drug. And plus, over 25 grams of crushed tablets will make the water cloudy as well," Yongqin reasoned.

"Ugh, we kept going on a stupid loop," Dejun groaned.

Yongqin glanced at the board, feeling fascinated by the kind of work the three men did.

"Maybe we can work on his pattern fist. So, a body once a month," Kun drag a new board and start writing.

"Okay. So, we have to work fast to avoid a new body next month. Just great. What other pattern?" Sicheng sighed.

"The medicine patterns?" Dejun asked.

"It's inconsistent. The first two are medications for like the heart, right?" Kun turned towards Yongqin.

"Ah yes. Bisoprolol and Captopril can be used for angina, infarct, and hypertension medication."

"So, two CVS drugs, and one sedative. That can hardly become a pattern," Sicheng muttered.

"Maybe the decaying pattern? I checked out the two other bodies and learned Dr. Lu's reports. The first body came after 6 days, the second one after 5 days, and the current body came after 4 days of death. That's like… a pattern, right?" Yongqin piped.

"Oh, that's true. So… the next body, though hopefully not, will come in a month, 3 days after the death?" Dejun mused.

"How about the date they came in?" Yongqin asked.

"The first body came on March second. The second one on April third…"

"This one came on May fourth! That's a mathematical pattern!" Dejun balked.

"The number of the month subtracted by one, equals the date. So next month, on June fifth, a body will come 3 days after death. Supposedly, the murder should take place in June second," Sicheng concluded.

"We need to stop this cycle. I can't deal with another body addressed to me," Kun groaned.

"Try thinking about it, Kun _ge_. Have you made any enemy in life?" Sicheng asked.

"None that I'm aware of. And if someone hates me, then it's probably the murderers I convicted. But most of them are on death parole or rotting in jail, or even dead already! So, how come?"

"Any of them involved in gangs?" Sicheng asked.

Both Kun and Dejun tried to recall previous cases their team worked for before shaking their head. "No. There's hardly any gang in this district. The PAP HQ is located here, only gutsy fools would set up a gang here," Kun said.

"Maybe alliances? I mean, those usually happened in movies," Yongqin shrugged.

"I don't know. It's stressing me out," Sicheng groaned.

Yongqin patted his friend's back sympathetically. "Anyways, are the victims related to each other?" Yongqin piped up.

"We don't think so. We’ve issued warrants and conducted some researches and investigations, but nothing in particular connected the first two victims. We're processing a warrant for this victim. We'll go for investigations to the victim's closest relations as well," Kun explained.

"Can you bring me to the victim's place? I've always been curious on how detectives work," Yongqin grinned.

" _Yah_ , this isn't some field trip, Yongqin _ge_. I'm not babysitting you," Sicheng knocked his head.

"But I have photographic memory! I might catch on things you don't, and remembered details that pictures can't capture!" He reasoned.

"Dr. Li, you have photographic memory?!" Dejun exclaimed.

Yongqin nodded innocently.

"Really? I thought it was just in movies," Dejun gaped.

"I still remember every little detail in the lead board you showed me. I can still even remember the details in Chief Fan's office," he shrugged.

"Tell me then, what was the painting in Chief Fan's office?" Dejun asked challengingly.

"Wow, Xiao Dejun, are you underestimating him? He’s actually no joke you know. _Aiyou_ , Yongqin _ge,_ show him," Sicheng grinned.

"Which painting, Detective Xiao? There were two. One on the wall behind his desk, and one near the window. The one behind his desk is… I think that's a crane. And the one near his window is some abstract colorful painting," Yongqin shrugged victoriously, exchanging fist bumps with Sicheng when he saw Dejun's shocked expression.

"We already have one observant dude in this team, now we're having another one?" Dejun balked.

"Observant dude?"

"Kun _ge_ 's a behavior analyst, remember? You might remember a person's clothing and appearance, but this captain of ours could guess the person's behavior and remember it well. Having both of you in this team could highly benefit this case," Sicheng smiled.

Just then the door was knocked, revealing a police officer in his uniform.

"Detective Qian!"

"Oh, Officer Liu. Have you got it?"

The man nodded. "Yes, _da ge_! There were 3 identified car accidents occurring in Haidian district. Details regarding them are all in this folder. About victims of the accident… I'm still working on it. And for the warrant, we have issued it but they said we can’t obtain it until tomorrow morning," The man reported.

"The victim's phone and bank account?" Sicheng stood up.

"I’m still working on it. It'll be done shortly. That is all."

"Alright, thank you so much, Yangyang. I really appreciate it. You may go back," Kun patted the man's shoulder before going back to the meeting table.

“I’ll be quick, _da ge_!” The man grinned, sending a peace sign before bowing and leaving.

Kun chuckled fondly before turning back to his team.

"Today's May fourth and the body was predicted to be found on April 30th then?" Sicheng asked.

"Yes. There were 3 car accidents. One of them happened on April 30th. That one must be it," Kun nodded to himself as he examined the document in front of him.

"Where is it?"

"Wanliu area. It happened late at night, in a quiet neighborhood. When police arrived, they found the car and an injured man. But not our victim."

"Huh, that's weird?"

"I know. We can go see the man tomorrow. Yangyang is looking it up."

"Okay. Today, shall we create an agenda for tomorrow then?"

"Go ahead, the three of you. I want to examine the three bodies again," Yongqin stood up.

"Alright. I'll go home with you for once, then, I haven't seen _ma_ and _ba_ for a while. Call me if you're done," Sicheng waved at him.

He gave him a thumbs up before closing the door.

"You lived with him?" Kun asked.

"Huh? Usually, yes. But nowadays I preferred staying in my own apartment. But sometimes I visit his parents. I’m quite close to his parents, I even called them _ma_ and _ba_ ," Sicheng smiled.

"Ah, okay. Alright, so tomorrow's agenda?"

"We can go to interview the injured man first. After that we'll search up the victim's place?"

"Good. Are we bringing Dr. Li then?" Kun asked back.

"We should. He's quite funny, he'll keep us entertained. It gets boring going with you two," Dejun sighed before yelping when Sicheng smacked the back of his head with the folder.

"Well, it's true!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on twt @nauranindyaa !! there are a lot of medical related things here, so hmu anywhere, really, if it's confusing. or, if you're interested in this kind of field (forensic, medicine, pharmacology, ladidada yaddi yadda), hmu as well! i like discussing things like this! or just hmu in general and let's be friends <3


	5. false victim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone was falsely accused for an accident, and it might have something to do with their third victim.

" _Aiya_! Sicheng! Yongqin was right, you finally came home!"

Sicheng grinned before hugging his friend’s mom.

"I was right, _ma_. I really do need to be transferred to be able to summon him home," Yongqin snickered as he entered the house.

"Where's _ba_?" Sicheng asked as he went in.

"Cooking dinner. It's Yongqin's first day of work and you're also visiting so he's cooking both of your favorite food," the middle-aged woman smiled.

Sicheng entered the dining room to see Yongqin already in the kitchen having a taste on whatever his father is cooking.

"Oh, son! I made _huoguo!_ You guys love it so much, right?" The man smiled.

Sicheng grinned before hugging him. "Wow, I missed home cooked food. Shall I kidnap Yongqin _ge_ to stay with me so he could cook for me then?" He asked jokingly, earning a hit on his back using a spatula by Yongqin’s mother.

"You naughty kid! Go wash your hands and help me set the table!"

"Okay, okay!" Sicheng laughed and lifted his arms in surrender.

The dinner was light and fun. Since the medicine murder case started, he'd been staying in his apartment more rather than at home. He definitely misses Yongqin’s family.

"So, Yongqin, how was work?"

"It was fun! I finally dealt with dead bodies! I was in the same team as Sicheng too!" He beamed.

"Really? Take good care of Yongqin then, Cheng," Mr. Li smiled, patting Sicheng’s shoulder.

"Oh, of course I will, _ba_."

"I met _Cheng’s_ friends too! They're pretty cool," Yongqin grinned.

"Are there any cute guys? Cheng, your friend here is single for too long," Yongqin’s mother snickered.

"Ah, _ma_ ," Yongqin sighed.

"Well, you’re always single, Qinqin. Anyways, are they good people, Cheng? If yes, can you set up one of them with your friend here? He's already 34! He'll be 40 in six years. Six years will fly by quickly! He can’t just live with us forever!"

" _MA_!" Both men groaned.

"I never trusted the men Yongqin brought home in the past," His mother snickered.

"It would be awkward for me if one of them dated him," Sicheng groaned.

"Are any of them within Yongqin's age range though?" Mr. Li spoke up.

"Ah, _ba_!" Yongqin whined childishly.

"I was just asking," the man shrugged.

"Well, Dejun is three years younger, but our leader Kun is the same age as him. But still, I'm not setting them up together!" Sicheng said.

"The Kun one seemed interesting. The same age, huh?" his mother teased.

"Oh, hell no! Ugh, I regretted telling you!"

* * *

"Morning, Detective Dong, is this your brother?"

Sicheng shook his head at the fellow police officers greeting him. He forgot he hasn't introduced his friend around.

Yongqin remembered the man. He came to give a document to Detective Qian yesterday.

"No, Yangyang. This is Dr. Li Yongqin, our new forensic team," he explained.

"Oh! Dr. Song's replacement? Good thing then, I pitied Dr. Lu having to work alone. Hope you got along with everyone in this precinct, Dr. Li! Come by my desk for hot gossips if you’re bored!" The officer smiled before going his way.

Yongqin bowed at him before following his friend to his desk.

“He’s an interesting lad.”

“He? Oh, Officer Liu? I mean, Yangyang? Yeah. He’s one of Kun _ge_ ’s favorite guy aside from the CSI twins. He’s on our IT department. He’s younger than Dejun by a year if I’m not mistaken. He’s very smart, but also, a sucker for gossip. I think you’ll get along with him just fine. On the contrary, knowing you, _ge_ , please don’t get too close with Yangie,” Sicheng shuddered. Having Dejun being close to Yangyang was enough headache, he doesn’t need one more gossiper in the team.

"I’ll still try to get on his good sides, at least. He seems like a genuinely nice kid. Anyways! Where's the other?" Yongqin asked as he set the coffees down on Sicheng’s table.

"Kun _ge_ actually lived not too far from our house. Dejun lived near here. They're mostly on time, especially Kun _ge_. We're just a little early. Take a seat," Sicheng pointed to Kun's vacant chair next to his desk.

“Is it okay for me to sit here? I mean it’s Detective Qian’s seat…”

“He’ll never mind, trust me!” Sicheng grinned.

Yongqin sat down and examined Kun's messy desk. Looking at it, Sicheng's desk and Dejun's desk are also messy.

"Are your guys' desks usually this messy?" He asked. Ten hates, _hates,_ hates, messy things.

"Not really. During difficult cases, yes. But usually, no," Sicheng grinned as he read a few documents before putting it away in different colored plastic shelves on his desk.

"Need help organizing them?" Yongqin asked.

"Oh, I would love that," Sicheng beamed and Yongqin rolled his eyes before helping his friend sort out his things.

After deeming Sicheng capable enough to tidy his own desk, Yongqin turned to Kun's desk. He doesn't feel like it's appropriate to pry on his things so he sorted to gathering his documents into one neat pile, creating a free space in the middle of his desk. He also made sure the plastic shelves on his desk are aligned well.

He then made way to Dejun's desk, clicking his tongue when he saw the messiest desk between the three. He saw there were candy wrappers everywhere, so he picked them up and threw them into a nearby bin. He did the same thing he does for Kun's desk to Dejun's—making sure there's a free space to work at, and then he returned to Kun's chair. As if on cue, Kun came into the office, hiding his grin when he saw Yongqin swiveling around on his chair.

"Oh, Kun _ge_! We have some coffee!" Sicheng hollered.

Yongqin straightened his back and stood up embarrassedly.

"Detective Qian! Sorry for taking your seat," he said sheepishly.

Kun brushed him off casually. "Cool with me. It’s okay, go sit back down. Thanks for the coffee," he smiled before taking one. He sat down on his desk casually as Yongqin sat back down on his chair.

“See? Kun _ge_ is incapable of being mad,” Sicheng grinned, earning an eye roll from Kun.

"Did the cleaning lady came and clean my desk?" Kun scratched his head when he realized he actually had a space to sit on when his desk was a total mess the day before.

"Ah, I did a little tidying up on your desk and Detective Xiao's desk. And Sicheng's too," Yongqin explained casually.

"Oh, gee. Really? Thanks a lot," Kun smiled as he sipped his coffee silently.

A moment later, Dejun came in with the officer Yongqin met earlier, laughing together. Officer Liu Yangyang? Was that his name?

"Morning guys! I met Yangyang on his desk. The warrant's here!" Dejun gleefully waved a piece of paper.

"Take your caffeine intake to cut down your sugar rush. You're always too chipper early in the morning," Kun chuckled as he thrust a cup to the other man.

Dejun grinned and shoved the warrant to his team leader. Kun accepted it and read the document quickly.

"Oh, great. I love free coffee. So, whose car are we taking on our journey today?" He asked before sipping his iced americano happily.

"Mine's okay. I'll drive, since it’s my car and we're carrying this friend of mine around," Sicheng shrugged.

"Wow, I feel like an additional baggage here," Yongqin muttered dryly.

"You are, Dr. Li. But a good, useful one," Dejun grinned.

"Sorry gentlemen, but I just cleaned all of your desks, and If you don't want me to turn all godzilla and flip your tables around then treat me right, please," Yongqin said jokingly.

"You cleaned my desk? Oh, god. You did! Dr. Li! I love you! Let's keep him around!"

"Okay, now I feel like a housekeeper," Yongqin lifted his arms in defeat.

"Cut Dr. Li some slack, guys. Let's just go, we have places to visit," Kun stood up.

"Now that's what I like. Thank you, Detective Qian," Yongqin threw him a smile which the detective replied with a two-fingered salute.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Kun _ge_ , I want to ride shotgun!" Dejun grinned as he took the passenger seat.

Kun only shook his head fondly at the younger guy.

“You actually let him?” Yongqin turned to Kun who seemed fine being bossed by his junior.

"It’s fine. I don’t mind sitting anywhere. At least they’re not shoving me into the car trunk," Kun explained to Yongqin jokingly as he opened the back door. "After you," he smiled, letting Yongqin enter Sicheng's SUV first.

"So, where are we going first?" Yongqin asked.

"We're thinking of visiting the accident location first. See if we can get something. Then, we'll visit the supposedly victim of the accident. Lastly, we search up our third victim's apartment," Kun explained.

Yongqin nodded and sat silently as the car went on. Meanwhile, Kun took his time observing Yongqin from the window, pretending he was looking outside. If he should be honest, he found him very attractive. The blonde-haired guy was nothing like he ever seen before. He's definitely a charmer. But he also knew his boundaries. He’s Sicheng’s close family friend and he also knew how much Sicheng treasured him. He's going to be off-limits. He calmly shook the thoughts out of his head before facing the front again. He should not be swayed in the middle of a very important case.

* * *

After fifteen minutes of driving, Sicheng stopped his car nearing the end of the road. Everyone collectively agreed that it's a quite secluded place, and having an accident there at eleven at night was probably an invitation for bad luck.

"So, this is the place?" Dejun asked as he stared at the bushy and grassy end of the road and the bent street lamp nearby.

Yongqin walked back a little so he could get a clear view of the area, planting the image firmly on his brain.

"The nearest occupied place is half a mile from here. It's kind of weird how he could end up dying here," Kun mused as he took his place next to Yongqin, silently observing the vast area.

"What was the supposed cause of accident?" Yongqin asked.

"DUI. The 'victim', the alive one, not our case victim, was brought to the nearest hospital to get treated. They took an alcohol breath test. His alcohol level was 0,09%."

"That's incredibly high. But I'm 100% sure our case victim was the driver of the car, not… whoever this guy is. His wounds suggested he was the driver. The seatbelt marking too, it shows that he was taking the left seat, meaning he was either driving or sitting at the back. He also had airbag wounds, and the blunt trauma on his forehead probably was caused by bumping his head to the steering wheel," Yongqin argues.

"Possibly, whoever the culprit was, moved this living victim to the driver seat, making it seems like he was driving under influence, causing a solo accident," Kun nodded.

Yongqin took a few steps and crouched on the ground, looking for drying blood splatters. Blood markings will be found on the ground outside the vehicle if the victim was brought out of the car.

"What was the car he was driving?" Yongqin asked again.

"Hyundai Kona," Kun said as he read his note.

"Your car is Hyundai too, right, Cheng?" Yongqin asked.

"Mine's Santa Fe, which is a bit bigger, but not much different. Should I situate it resembling the crime scene?" Sicheng offered.

Kun nodded and they dispersed, making way for Sicheng to move his car. He drove it until the sensor beeped obnoxiously since it nearly hit the bent lamp post. He was trying his best to mimic the car position without breaking his car.

Yongqin approached the back seat and take a few steps, imagining how the blood pattern will look. He squatted down and stared at the ground intently. Kun did the same but he approached the driver seat and the front of the car instead of the back.

"There's faint blood traces here. Someone's trying to remove it. Probably bleach? How’s the result of the benzidine test?" Dejun who was standing behind the lamp post piped up.

"Positive. I’ve read the reports. Also looking at the dried blood splatters, it's possible that someone was moved to the driver's seat. Possibly from the front passenger seat to the driver's seat," Kun concluded as he looked at his phone for the crime scene pictures.

"The faint blood trace ended here. Probably there's another car or vehicle waiting, and our culprit moved the victim from the driver's seat to his car, and then moved the living victim to the driver's seat," Yongqin said.

"The living victim was found around thirty minutes after the accident. A homeless man found him and reported to the neighborhood leader who then called 120," Sicheng stated.

"Thirty minutes spared the culprit enough time to bail the scene even after cleaning after his mess with bleach. There's no CCTV here I suppose?" Dejun said.

"There's two now. We installed them just a few days after the accident. But well…" Kun sighed.

They found out some things but truly, they're going nowhere.

"Shall we interview the living victim then? He's already at home recuperating. Let me just back up my car first," Sicheng suggested which everyone unanimously agreed upon.

They drive for another ten minutes, to a neighborhood actually close by.

"Excuse me, is this Ye Feimo's residence?" Kun said politely to a woman who responded to them knocking on their door.

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm Detective Qian Kun from Beijing Haidian District Police Station, and these are my team. We'd like to have a little talk with Mr. Ye," Kun answered as he flashed the woman his badge.

"I thought the case was already settled? My husband had already got his license pulled out, and we paid the fine," the woman timidly said.

"Oh, this has nothing to do with your husband punishment from the court, ma'am. There's murder happening, and it involved your husband. We believe this accident might be caused by that and your husband unintendedly became a victim also," Sicheng stepped up and explained politely.

The woman finally nodded before stepping aside to open the door wider so her guests can come inside. "Alright, come in."

"I'll stay outside and accompany the lady, you guys go in," Yongqin smiled softly to the three detectives before sitting down on the living room couch with the woman.

He quietly took in the surroundings. It was neat and clean.

"Hi, ma'am. I'm Dr. Li Yongqin, a forensic specialist," Yongqin offered the woman a handshake.

"I'm Wu Lian, Mr. Ye's wife. I'm sorry if I came out rude, but you're not a detective?"

Yongqin smiled and shook his head,

"No, but I'm a forensic doctor working for the team. We're dealing a murder of potential serial killer here, and we think your husband's accident was used as a cover up. We found the body of a man, and his injuries matched up specific wounds that would happen if you got into a car accident as a driver. Was your husband alone during the accident?"

The woman sighed, "My husband never drinks. He has a very low alcohol tolerance. That day, he joined a company dinner he couldn't refuse and he got drunk. He didn't remember anything, but one of his juniors at work vowed that he ordered a replacement driver for my husband. It's a pity we don't have CCTV here and no black box camera in the car to testify. My husband was so blacked-out drunk he couldn't remember anything."

"But he was found alone after the accident happened, right? It was possible that there were two people inside the car. We're still looking up and see if anything adds up. We'd like to clear your husband's name too, to prove that he indeed has a replacement driver and he was just yet another victim," Yongqin took the woman's hands and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you so much, doctor. I hope you can find the culprit, and I hope there's going to be no more body."

* * *

"The man said he really didn't remember anything, but he mentioned in court that his junior at work ordered him a replacement driver," Sicheng said as the four of them entered his car.

"His wife said the same thing. I think she's telling the truth," Yongqin said.

"Kun _ge_?"

"His body language showed that he was genuinely confused about his case. He was definitely a victim too. We need to cross check to this junior and see if he recognized our case victim. Maybe he was a replacement driver? Our case victim, I mean."

"Part-timer?" Yongqin raised his brows.

"Ah yes, he was a fresh graduate working in a publishing company. He might be working part time as a replacement driver," Dejun nodded as he scanned his notes.

"Where does Mr. Ye work at?"

"In a printing and publication office, not far from here. Shall we go there first?" Sicheng offered as he started the ignition.

"Sure thing."

The drive there took short time, and they found the junior easily too since he was actually standing on the front office desk receiving a package.

"Morning, Mr. Jin. You must be Jin Minshuo, the junior of Mr. Ye Feimo, right?"

"Ah, yes, that's me. How can I help all of you?"

"I'm Detective Qian Kun from Beijing Haidian District Police Station and these guys belonged to my team. We're investigating a murder, and it might be related to the accident that happened to your senior," Kun showed him his badge and the male nodded.

"A murder related to Mr. Ye? I… don't understand."

"We believed you testified that you called a replacement driver for Mr. Ye."

"Yes, I definitely did. I didn't send him to his car myself but I remembered paying the driver in advance. I suspected the driver to run away with the money and _Mr. Ye_ ended up driving himself that's why the accident happened," the man confessed.

Sicheng fished out a picture of their murder victim that they found on the system database.

"Qiao Junhao. Do you recognize this guy as the driver?"

The man furrowed his brows, "I think this is him? But he has like… shorter hair and his hair was brown."

Dejun nodded. The picture they got from his ID wasn’t a recent picture of the man. It’s understandable that the guy didn’t recognized him.

Kun nudged Sicheng to show the man Qiao Junhao’s newer picture—the one they took at the morgue after he died. Kun didn't want to show Mr. Jin such a menacing picture but he didn't have any choice but to show the man the picture of the barely decaying corpse.

"Oh my god! Yes! That's him! What happened to him?!" The man shrieked, clearly spooked out by the picture.

"We suspected that the driver did drove for your chief but he died in the middle of his driving, that's why the car crashed," Yongqin spoke up.

"He looked fine when he came? Well, maybe he looked a little tired but normal."

"We found a deadly amount of sedatives in his system. He was drugged before driving your senior home. The drug must've taken effect when he was driving."

The man gaped, "Oh god. That's awful… but yes, I do remember the driver. That’s Qiao Junhao!"

"Okay, thank you so much for your testimony, Mr. Jin. This way we could clear out your chief's name and prove that he's a victim too," Dejun assured the man.

"Thank you, detective. I hope the case will be solved soon, and my senior could come back to work and has his rights reclaimed," the man bowed.

"Alright. We'll get going then, Mr. Jin," Kun and the rest of the team bowed before returning to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twt: @nauranindyaa  
> go bother me!


	6. house search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gathered informations about their third victim.

"Our theory was right. The Midazolam tablet would take effect after an hour. He must've ingested them an hour before he came to pick up Ye Feimo. We should contact the victim's agency then, to figure out if anyone knows if the victim's taking any medication," Yongqin suggested.

"Yes. We should head to the victim's apartment now," Kun nodded.

The drive from the publishing company to the victim apartment took approximately ten minutes only.

"Where do they went drinking again?" Sicheng asked as he slowly parked his car.

"In a barbeque restaurant across the company. Why?" Dejun asked.

"How long does it take to drive from the company to his house?" Kun asked again as he wrote something down on his notebook.

"Less than ten minutes."

Kun nodded as he jotted down more information on his notebook. He closed his eyes for a few seconds as he made some mental calculation.

"So, if the victim walked from his apartment to the company, it will take him at least 15 minutes. And then the drive to Mr. Ye's neighborhood, probably 15 minutes as well. The total is 30 minutes. How long does it take for Midazolam to take effect again?" Kun turned to Yongqin.

"Around an hour, since he took such a large amount, maybe a little less than that due to potentiation," Yongqin answered.

"So, it's safe for us to predict that the victim took the pills at least half an hour before he went to take the driving job. It matched the timeline. The effect of the drug will be on full force when our victim was doing his job. Let's just go in first and see if we can find anything else," Kun nodded as he opened the car door and stepped out, waiting for Yongqin to exit as well.

"What floor is his apartment?" Dejun asked as they entered the building.

"Fifth floor. Let's go to the security first," Kun nodded.

"Good morning, sir. I'm Detective Qian Kun from Beijing Haidian District Police Station and I came with my team. We have a warrant to search inside unit 502."

"Mr. Qiao's room?" The security asked as he looked at a book, probably containing the list of the tenants' names.

"Yes. Qiao Junhao. He was found as a murder victim yesterday."

"M-murder?! But we haven't seen him for days! We thought he went home to his parents," the old male said in complete aghast.

"We'd like to investigate further, then. Can we enter the unit? We have a search warrant," Sicheng showed the old man the warrant.

"A-alright. Let's go upstairs."

The four people followed the security guard up to the fifth floor where he opened up the unit using his key.

"Dejun, try to get statements from the security guy. See if he knew anything about our victim. I'll go back downstairs to see the management and ask about other tenants. Kun _ge_ and Yongqin... you two are the most observant. Can you guys check inside the unit?" Sicheng proposed, which the three agreed on unanimously.

Kun entered the apartment first as Yongqin stood at the doorway, memorizing how the apartment looked.

"It's definitely a bachelor pad. Look at his stuffs. God," Yongqin shook his head.

Kun grinned, "Hey, don’t stereotype. My apartment doesn't always look like this. Oh, well, but your friend Sicheng on the other hand…"

Yongqin grinned, "A little messy. I knew. Anyway, shall we start at the victim's room?"

He put on his gloves before entering the room. He scanned the room, memorizing how it looks. Kun approached a magnetic board at the corner where the victim stuck on many notes.

"He's a solo replacement driver. He had no agency," Kun mused as he saw several stickers and pamphlets containing the victim's information.

Kun approached the table and picked up a journal, reading through it meticulously. "He graduated from Tsinghua. He's smart then. He used to live in Miami for 6 years. He's just starting his career here," Yongqin said as he peeked from behind Kun's shoulder.

Yongqin gasped suddenly.

"What?"

"Wow, the man wrote his journal in English!" Yongqin exclaimed.

"Wait, let me write that down," Kun said as he began scribbling on his notes.

"He's also a freelance translator," Yongqin stated again.

"How is he related to our previous three victims, huh," Kun sighed, reading his notes.

"Let me check his med box, see if he's taking Midazolam or any medication," Kun said as he went inside his bathroom. He found some standard over the counter cold and indigestion medication, but no sedatives. 

"He's forced to ingest it then. How could the culprit do it, huh?" Kun muttered as he examined the victim's desk.

Just then Dejun entered the unit.

"Got anything, _ge_?"

"A little. What do you have?" Kun asked back.

"Well, our victim is a friendly guy. His parents live in Hubei, and he used to live in the States. He sometimes tutored English to kids in this apartment. He's basically your typical nice neighborhood guy. The security guy said the last time he saw our victim was before he picked up Mr. Ye. Our timestamp is correct."

"Then, he must've ingested the drugs here. Within his residence," Yongqin nodded.

"The security guy said that our victim had a coffee and a talk with a client. Possibly for his translating job. They were talking about journals and stuff. The security guy said our victim often met up with his clients here. The security didn't have the CCTV footage that showed the mystery client's face since they're talking while standing in front of the parking lot. Sadly, he also forgot the man's face but he remembered the body proportion."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The man looked like he's in his late fifties, quite tall like above 170 cm, and he looked smart and dapper. His hair is white due to age. That was all."

Kun nodded as he finished taking notes. Sicheng came five minutes later with data regarding the apartment's tenants.

"Oh, Cheng. Done?" Kun asked.

"Yeah. The victim's a pretty sociable person and everyone seemed to know that he's a replacement driver. He didn't belong to any agency. He kind of just promoted himself and stuck stickers everywhere," Sicheng said as he showed them a pamphlet.

"We saw lots of those in his bedroom earlier," Yongqin piped up.

"Shall we go back to the precinct and try to connect the dots?"

"Yeah. Sure. Let's buy some lunch on the way. I'm starving."

* * *

Yongqin entered the precinct following the three guys who were talking among themselves while carrying their food order. They decided to go to the nearest McDonalds drive-thru and buy some burgers and cheese fries for lunch.

"Let's eat lunch I'm starving~" Dejun sing-songed as they entered the meeting room.

"Aren't the others going to be mad that we're using this room often?" Yongqin asked curiously.

Kun smiled as he handed him a burger, "Nah. There are two meeting rooms. Detective Liu and Detective Zhang mainly deal with crimes and narcs, and they used the other meeting room usually since it's closer to the narcotics division."

"You used to be in their team, right?" Yongqin turned to Sicheng.

"As you know, I was originally working in the Chaoyang precinct as a homicide detective. Xinhua _ge_ was promoted to team leader and his other partner became the chief in another precinct while Yixing _ge_ was off duty. I moved here to fill in his place. Then, after Yixing _ge_ was back, I was transferred to Kun _ge_ ’s team since it was more of my specialty," Sicheng answered as he shook the bag containing the fries to mix the cheese powder.

"How was it working in Dongcheng?" Kun asked as he took a bite of his burger.

"Meh. Boring. Not so many cases. Sometimes I felt useless," Yongqin shrugged.

"So, you like it because you can deal with more corpses here?"

Yongqin grinned and nodded his head.

"I can't wrap my head on how a someone could love dealing with corpses. Even Dr. Lu once said he regretted being a forensic specialist," Dejun shook his head.

"It was fun. And it felt rewarding when I can help people using my knowledge. I initially didn't want to become a forensic specialist when I went to Med school, but then I fell in love with the art of forensics and decided to pursue a career in it."

"Aren't you afraid of the cadavers and corpses? I mean, I dealt with them all the time and sometimes I still got spooked," Kun said.

"Especially the decayed one like we got these past few months," Sicheng shuddered.

"I'm used to cadavers. Do you know that we have to pass a courage test during our university orientation?" Yongqin beamed, wanting to tell the guys his spooky experiences.

"What? You have such things?!"

"Uh uh, we do. We were told to enter the anatomy room. One person at a time. We have to stay there for thirty minutes. The lights are all turned off and we only have a flashlight. There were around fifteen cadavers in…. various conditions. It was sort of a treasure hunt game where we have to find clues inside the cadaver and use it to solve a problem once we exited the room."

"Inside the cadaver?! Sounds fun, but it must've felt the other way around. Whoa, If I were you, Dr. Li, I'd probably pissed my pants," Dejun grimaced.

"It was a bit scary at first. But well… they're also humans like us. They're just dead. And…. severed. But they are humans too! And finding clues were fun. We have to dug our hands inside the body to find clues and it felt a bit wacky at first but once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed the process," Yongqin shrugged.

"Dr. Li, you’re hardcore," Dejun shuddered.

"So, working at the morgue alone is fine with you?" Kun asked.

Yongqin nodded, "Of course."

The three guys shuddered; the new forensic doctor is definitely a unique addition for their team!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun facts:  
> 1\. where i lived, it used to be common practice for med students to be put in this courage test with cadavers during orientation days. yongqin's experience was actually based on a true story, told by one of my lecturer at med school! he went to college in the late 90s and that's what he experienced. though right now, it is basically not allowed, since cadavers are essentially our "teacher" and therefore we must respect them!
> 
> 2\. regarding morgues, they do have a certain... air to them. i'm fine with being at the morgue in general, but if I have to do it alone... well, i admit it's a bit scary, especially since the hospital i'm currently interning at has a relatively old building, and the morgue was located at a separate location from the main building. during night shifts, sometimes med students would order some delivery food, but the delivery guy would be scared everytime we mentioned the delivery location was at the morgue. they thought we were trolling, when actually we're really just some starving students!! LOL. in the end, we usually have to walk to the main gate because delivery drivers would always refuse sending food to the morgue XD
> 
> anyways, hmu on twt @nauranindyaa if you want to discuss things! (((anything!)))


	7. dyed hair and tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yongqin discovered a new clue that could help the investigation.

"Alright, I got a third board sent in by the chief earlier. Shall we start connecting the dots?" Kun asked, tapping his fingers restlessly on the table.

"You guys… do your job. I'll head to the morgue and see if I can help Dr. Lu with anything," Yongqin stood up and waved his hand before going out of the room.

He entered the elevator that took him down to the morgue and find the morgue empty. Dr. Lu was kind enough to leave a note in front of his office, notifying Yongqin that he had to teach a lecture in the police academy and he'd probably head straight home after it so Yongqin had the morgue to himself. He put on his coat and gloves before approaching the drawers, taking the three bodies and hauling them into the examination tables side by side. Man, lifting corpses is a total body workout. It's quite heavy but he's getting used to it.

He felt the need to take a closer look. What does the victims have in common? The three of them all had black hair. But that's supposed to be normal right?

Yongqin reached into a folder placed on a nearby table, containing the victims’ profiles. He looked at the third victim’s Qiao Junhao latest photo they found on his Instagram. It was taken a few days before the accident. He stared at the victim’s light brown hair curiously. Did the victim dye his hair a day or two before the murder?

Yongqin went to the head position, carefully examining the head. He noticed that there are still a few light brown strands. The victim didn't get his hair professionally done in a hair salon. He must've did it himself since the dye job is obviously sloppy. He felt his instinct kicking in, driving him to check the other two victims' hair as well. Both victims had a bad dye job for sure. The first victim original hair color is blond, and the second victim had reddish brown hair. It's weird that all of them had black dyed hair—a badly dyed one too.

"Is it possible that their hair is dyed after they died?" He talked to himself as he read Dr. Lu's reports on the first two victims.

The first victim is 24 years old. And he had a tattoo on his wrist that read the word ‘Serenity’. He checked his wrist and confirmed it. He moved to the second victim. She apparently also has a tattoo on her left ankle. It's a small tattoo of a flower. The third victim had a tattoo on his back. A pretty big one of intricate design he couldn't decipher. He grabbed his notes and start piecing some similarities that all three victims had.

Newly dyed black hair and tattoo. It's not specific but it's better than nothing. He felt like it might have been a quite important clue. Who knows?

He spent the next three hours or so re-opening each body while reading Dr. Lu's notes and reports, trying to see if there's something he missed. Dr. Lu was a very meticulous person, he got almost everything written down on the reports, down to the littlest details.

Yongqin sighed as he plopped down on the swiveling chair. He dragged the chair near the table and laid his forehead on the cold metal surface. His head is wrecked from all the thinking and memorizing he did today. He closed his eyes and without realizing, he fell into sleep.

* * *

"My back hurts. I’m getting older," Kun groaned as he stood up and stretched.

"Me too. Can we just finish thinking at Sicheng _ge’_ s apartment? I need to lay down on some carpeted floor. I don't feel like driving home today, please let me crash at your apartment, Sicheng _ge_ " Dejun pleaded.

"That sounds nice. Let's order some spicy noodles for dinner," Kun grinned.

"Why are we all crashing at my place?" Sicheng groaned. Spending the night with two adult males doesn't sound too inviting. Don’t get him wrong, he’s gay, just not for these two dingheads he had to call his work partners.

"Do you want me to recite my supporting arguments on why your apartment makes a great base camp? Okay! One, it's only like a five-minutes’ drive from the precinct. Two, your floor is carpeted. Three, the Chinese restaurant near your apartment tasted bomb," Dejun grinned as he lifted his fingers for every reason why they should be allowed to use Sicheng's place as a base camp. It's not like they haven't done that before, so Dejun was pretty sure his idea would work.

"I still have to drive Yongqin home you know. His parents will kill me if I let their only son loose. He’s bad with directions," Sicheng reasoned back.

"He should just come with us! He can take your guest bedroom, we can crash on the couch," Kun exchanged high fives with Dejun.

"Speaking of which, he's still cooped inside that morgue. Isn't it cold and creepy down there? It’s evening now and he has been there for God knows how many hours," Dejun commented.

"We should probably give him a call. But I have to go to Officer Liu first. Kun _ge?_ Can you call him? It's number 3 on my speed dial," Sicheng tossed his iPhone towards Kun who catches it swiftly.

"Who's number 1 and 2 then?" Dejun teased.

"My own parents, dumbass," Sicheng rolled his eyes before grabbing his files and standing up from his desk.

“Aw, I thought that’d be us,” Dejun pouted, earning a chuckle from Kun.

Kun pressed the number 3 and waited for the call to connect. Sicheng saved Yongqin's number as Yongqin _ge_ with a bunch of cat emojis next to it. Probably the dude likes cat.

"Huh, he didn't pick up," Kun muttered when the call went into voice mail immediately.

"Why don't you go down and fetch him then, _ge_?" Dejun asked without turning from his computer screen.

"Oh… Okay." Kun stood up before walking to the elevator that brought him to the basement. He entered the Forensic department, feeling his goosebumps raising. It's a place filled with dead bodies and had the temperature set at the coldest temperature the air-con allowed for God's sake!

He stopped in front of Dr. Lu's office, noticing the note the man left on his door.

"So he's here alone for hours? Wow," he muttered.

He saw the door next to it slightly ajar, which was Yongqin's office, and it was empty when he peeked inside.

"Where is he?" Kun walked further into the morgue, shaking his head when he found him sleeping near three opened dead bodies. He didn't know whether he should be amazed or scared.

"Dr. Li? Dr. Li?" He tapped his shoulder. "Yongqin?”

Yongqin jolted awake when he felt his shoulder being repeatedly tapped.

"Oh my world! What time is it?" He blinked his eyes opened in shock.

"It's nearly seven. You've been here for five hours."

He fluttered his eyes open, slowly regaining his consciousness.

"Oh, Detective Qian! Wow, I fell asleep. Was Sicheng looking for me?" He asked, stretching his back.

"He's talking with Yangyang right now. We were all going to his apartment to discuss the case over dinner. I think he wants you to come along," Kun explained.

"Oh? Okay. Let me just… return the bodies back to where they belong first," Yongqin grinned sheepishly as he went to the fridge shelves and began opening them.

"Need help?"

"I'm going to appreciate it if you do. Grab some gloves," he smiled as he pointed to a box of latex gloves.

Kun put on a pair and approached him. He watched him wheeled one of the metal tables nearing the cold drawers.

"Do you usually lift each body by yourself?" He asked.

Yongqin nodded. "Yeah, but it took a lot of effort and a heck load of time since I have weak upper body strength," he sheepishly smiled.

Kun helped him lift the edge of the metal tray to slide the body into the shelves. "It's quite a terrifying place to be at night," he commented.

"I'm used to it," he shrugged as they finished putting the last body in. "You can throw the used gloves here," Yongqin said as he disposes his used gloves into a trash bin before approaching a sink to wash his hands.

Kun copied his actions and he smiled at him.

"Let me just grab my things first, I'll be really fast," he smiled again before jogging to his office.

Kun followed him and leaned against his door frame as he watched him stuff his things into his bag.

"Done?"

Yongqin nodded and the two of them left to take the elevator up. When they arrived upstairs, Sicheng is conversing with Dejun by the water dispenser.

"Oh, there you are guys. Shall we go back now?" Sicheng asked.

"Let me grab my files and laptop first," Kun said before going to his desk and taking a laptop bag which contained his belongings.

"All done. We're hitching your car again, okay?" Kun grinned which Sicheng replied with a groan.

Dejun ordered 4 spicy _noodles_ on the way home and they stopped by a convenience store to buy some _soda_. By the time they arrived at Sicheng's doorstep, the delivery man was just arriving as well so they went inside with food in their hands.

"Gaaahh, I'm so hungry," Sicheng groaned as he changed into his house slippers, followed by the three other people.

"I'll get the glasses, let's eat quickly. I want to say make yourself comfortable but I guess you guys are comfortable enough, huh?" He grinned as he watched Kun and Yongqin immediately plopping themselves at the couch and Dejun lying flat on the carpeted floor.

Sicheng came back with 4 glasses and Yongqin straightened himself to help his friend.

"Come, let's eat fast and talk about this case. We don't have that much time before this sick bastard plan his next murder," Kun clapped his hands.

The four people ate their spicy noodles deliciously with the night news playing on the TV.

"I met the chief earlier this afternoon," Kun said after taking a gulp of the cold _soda_ to ease the spiciness.

"And?"

"He said we need to move fast. The media had covered the story of the three killings. It's dangerous since it could potentially trigger copycat murders. The precinct is also under heavy scrutiny for not being able to cover this case. If all things fail, the Beijing Central Police Station might take this case from us, or even worse, the prosecution office," Kun sighed.

"Things were never good when the prosecutors got involved," Dejun mused.

"Don't take it too hard on you, _ge_. We're all here to help. Things had been on the brighter side too after Yongqin joined, right? We've discovered so many pieces of information," Sicheng smiled and patted his friend's back.

"I got some more clues as well after locking myself with the dead bodies for three hours. Don't be all gloomy, trust me, the look doesn’t suit any of us. Let's finish eating this spicy noodle and then get to discuss, okay? And speaking of which, who the hell ordered these noodles? They're too spicy!" Yongqin gruntled.

Dejun grinned as he downed a cup of soda to ease the burning in his mouth, sighing as the cool lime-flavored drink washed down the spice.

"Drink some soda, or eat some _radish_ ," Kun said softly as he pushed the soda bottle towards Yongqin and also the plate containing the radish slices.

"Thanks," Yongqin smiled as he took a slice of the cold side dish, chewing it quickly.

The four of them finished their hot dinner quickly, and after glasses of sodas, they cleaned the coffee table and got ready to discuss.

" _Yo, Cheng_ , I'll go get changed first, okay? My clothes smelled like formaldehyde. Let me borrow your t-shirt," Yongqin stood up as the three guys formed a circle on the floor.

"Did he take a bath with the formalin? How can he smell like it?" Sicheng muttered.

Kun grinned, "You told me to call him but he wasn't answering so I went down, and I found him sleeping near the bodies. It was like freezing cold there and he slept like a log."

"Yongqin _ge_ is a unique species," Sicheng shook his head.

Yongqin emerged five minutes later in Sicheng’s t-shirt and sweatpants.

"I'm glad I could change," he mused as he flopped on the couch. "Anyways, where are we in the case currently?" He asked curiously. He watched as Dejun rolled around on the floor.

"Well, we got more info regarding our second victim. Apparently, she used to live in the States too, like our third victim. She used to live in Iowa for four years. We didn't find any relation between her and the Qiao Junhao though," Dejun answered.

Kun shrugged out of his leather jacket and rolled the sleeves of his long-sleeved t-shirt. "The common similarities of Qin Yifei and Qiao Junhao is that they both used to live in the States and they're in their twenties," he added.

"I found more similarities between the three victims. It might not be that important but I think it might serve as a pattern also," Yongqin said as he turned to face the three detectives.

"Shoot," Kun nodded.

"One, they don't have black hair originally, and two, they all have tattoos."

"Huh?"

"I don't know but all of them seemed to have a really bad dye job before they died, or after. I'm not too sure. Qiao Junhao was originally brown haired."

"Ah, yes! The guy from the publishing company, the junior who ordered the driver service, he said that when we showed him the picture of Qiao Junhao’s body!" Sicheng snapped his fingers.

"Our first victim, Qiu Fangzhou, he was originally blonde. Qin Yifei originally had reddish brown hair. I examined their head and the roots weren't properly dyed. There's two possibilities: either the murderer dyed the victims' hair or they were just too broke to afford a proper dye job," Yongqin shrugged.

"The second possibility should go because Qiu Fangzhou is well-off. His father had a flourishing business," Sicheng countered.

"Our second victim came from a middle-class family and lived comfortably, but she's a fresh graduate and she hasn't had a settled job. She could be broke. But I like the first option better because that means we have a pattern," Dejun added.

"About the tattoo?" Sicheng inquired.

"They're all different. Qiu Fangzhou… He had a small tattoo of a word in his wrist. The second one, Qin Yifei had a tattoo of a flower on her ankle. Qiao Junhao had like a huge fancy tattoo on his back. It's honestly a great design," Yongqin shrugged.

"What's up with people and tattoos?" Dejun muttered.

“What’s wrong with tattoos?” Yongqin blinked.

"I have a tattoo," Kun and Sicheng said simultaneously.

"Heh? What? Wow, you _gege_ are sure wild," Dejun shook his head.

"Does the first victim used to live in the States too?" Sicheng suddenly said.

"Oh, you're right! That could be a pattern!" Yongqin nodded excitedly.

Kun opened his notes and nodded. "He lived in Minnesota during middle school."

"It's a pattern then," Sicheng nodded.

"Speaking of tattoos… Do you all really have them?" Dejun asked curiously.

"I have one on my hip, covering my huge ass birthmark. It was a drawing of a falcon," Sicheng laughed.

"He was an emo teen when he made that," Yongqin added as he chuckled.

"I have one on my lower back," Kun shrugged.

"Another big ass emo drawing like Sicheng _ge_?" Dejun teased.

"Nah, it's not that big, but you might think it's a bit emo. It's a cross and some sappy quotes in Latin," he chuckled.

"Oh, that's cool! I have three. This one on my lower arm is just an intricate design I drew myself. Then the other two, both with a Latin phrase. Guess we both love the Latin phrases, huh?" Yongqin grinned as he showed them the one on his left wrist which was usually covered by his watch.

" _Non_ …. _sibi_... _sed_... _omnibus_?" Dejun read slowly.

"Not for myself but for all. I got it after I was sworn as a forensic specialist. And the other one here," he showed them his right wrist.

" _Primum non nocere_ ," Kun read softly.

"First, do no harm. It was the first tattoo, I got it after getting my MD," Yongqin smiled as he softly caressed it.

"Wow, I am surrounded by feisty people," Dejun chuckled.

Kun rolled his eyes and threw a pillow towards Dejun's direction. “Let’s get back to the case. So, what have we got?” Kun said.

The other two detectives flipped through their notes but Yongqin beat them to it.

“All victims had lived in the States, are in their twenties, had a bad black dye job, and had some sort of tattoos. The date they were murdered and sent to the precinct had a pattern as well. And if we want to push our luck, I just figured that their age could be a pattern as well,” Yongqin recited fluently.

“Damn, _ge._ You and your crazy memory. Good to know we have you in our team,” Sicheng shook his head and Kun silently admired the shorter male who was lounging on the couch.

“The age could be a pattern you said?” Dejun asked curiously.

Kun glanced at his notes. “That is possible. Qiu Fangzhou was 24, Qin Yifei was 26, and Qiao Junhao was 28.”

“The gender too. Male, female, male,” Kun added again.

“So, we could make an educated guess that the next victim would be a 30 years old female, sent to our precinct three days after being murdered, on June sixth. So, the murder will most likely happen on June third to a 30 years old woman," Yongqin spoke up.

"We have less than a month to stop it from happening. The killer must be stopped," Kun sighed.

"It's going to be difficult to round up the possible victims. We need to look into people who used to live in the States, and had a tattoo, and not black-haired, and is 30 years old," Dejun said.

"All victims lived around Haidian district, so we could narrow our search there," Sicheng said.

"And then what? Are we going to put them in a protection program? I don't think the higher ups are going to allow that. They're going to think that it's a waste of resource," Kun groaned.

"But it will definitely help. Most serial killers had some sort of psychiatric problem. They are called psycho for a reason. And usually, they have an inclination towards pattern in their subconscious. By keeping their potential victims safe, we're making it difficult for our killer to act. And if he failed to murder his target and broke out of his pattern, it'll tear him apart," Yongqin said.

"We got a slightly OCD and totally psycho guy out on the run. I think trying to find the possible victims and warning them would be useful. We could try," Dejun nodded.

"I'll try talking with the chief. Tomorrow I'll ask Yangyang to run the system for us and get us a list of all 30 years old female in Haidian that we can interview,” Kun nodded.

“Well, this means we'll have a long week tomorrow, let's just go to sleep. Kun _ge_ , Xiaojun, make yourself comfortable here. I'll go fetch some blankets and extra pillows. Yongqin _ge_ , you can take my guest room," Sicheng decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we've got a new clue err'body!


	8. interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yongqin joined the team for his first ever experience of an interview.

Yongqin stretched out his back when his alarm rang. He opened his bleary eyes and glanced around at the unfamiliar environment.

“Ah, right, _Sicheng’s_ apartment,” he mused sleepily.

He usually woke up early to help his mother cook breakfast. He figured he probably should make breakfast for the potentially hungry three adult men who slept under the same roof as him. He went to the en-suite bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth before tiptoeing silently outside.

Detective Xiao Dejun was knocked out on the sofa, sleeping with his mouth open, a soft snore coming out of him. Meanwhile Detective Qian Kun was on the carpeted floor, sleeping on his stomach, probably because of his hurting back that he constantly complained about yesterday.

Yongqin tiptoed to the kitchen and tried to make as minimal noise as possible as he opened the fridge. Sicheng had some packed side dishes from home and also some eggs. He could make some steamed eggs and probably… fried rice? It’s quick and filling so all four of them could have energy to pass the day.

He decided to start on the coffee first, knowing that they all couldn’t function properly without some caffeine surge. He let the coffee machine did its job while he moved to crack some eggs into the biggest _pot Sicheng_ owned—which wasn’t that big either—and mixed some seasonings. He chopped up some scallions he found on the bottom rack of the fridge, hoping it’s still good enough to be eaten. Sicheng only had instant rice so he popped four into the microwave before he moved to make some seasoned vegetables, throwing it into a bowl and mixing it with sesame oil and several other ingredients he managed to find in Sicheng’s upsetting fridge.

The microwave beeped, and Yongqin took out the cooked rice, mixing it in the big bowl along with the _seasoned vegetables_ and several side dishes before throwing it in the pan to fry them up a bit. Meanwhile in the living room, Kun woke up to the smell of food. He usually wakes up to the obnoxious sound of his blaring alarm so it’s quite weird to hear someone cooking instead of his loud phone.

Is he dreaming or does he actually smell some coffee?

He blinked his eyes open and sat up, rubbing his face. The first sight he saw was Dejun drooling in his sleep.

Ah, right. He’s staying over at Sicheng’s. He stretched his sore back and stood up, nearly jumping out in shock when he saw Dr. Li waving a spatula at him.

“Good morning Detective Qian. Did I wake you up?”

He cleared his throat and approached the kitchen.

“Want some coffee?” Yongqin offered cheerily.

Kun blinked his sleepy eyes as he walked to the sink. “Ah, right. Sicheng’s still sleeping in his room. I’ll just… wash my face in the sink then,” he croaked as he turned on the faucet and began vigorously rubbing his face with just water.

“Now I’m awake. Uhm, where’s the coffee?” He spoke up again.

“I’ll go make them!” Yongqin chirped, turning back to face the coffee machine. He had seen Sicheng when he just woke up countless times so he’s pretty immune to the sight of post-sleep men, but Sicheng’s friend here is… damn.

Yongqin never knew that a man could be this hot with his just-woke-up voice and the way his face looks after he washed it. That Qian Detective is surely a smoky piece of hell.

“Uhh.. Sugar? Cream?” He turned around to face Kun who was looking at him intently.

“One teaspoon of sugar, please,” Kun smiled, chuckling to himself. He could see Dr. Li was kind of flustered.

“Here it is, Detective Qian,” Yongqin passed him the mug before quickly bolting to tend to his steamed eggs.

“What are those? It smelled so nice it woke me up from sleep,” Kun commented as he sipped his coffee.

“Steamed eggs and fried rice. There aren’t that many, uh… viable, ingredients in Sicheng’s fridge. I could only make that,” he answered.

“I’m totally okay and grateful for that. Usually, we settled for coffee and pastries from a cafe near the precinct. I actually really liked cooking, but since we got busy, I haven’t got the opportunity to cook again. Kinda sad,” Kun mused

They heard the door to Sicheng’s bedroom opened, revealing the owner of the apartment.

“Smelled nice. Did you cook, Yongqin _ge_?” Sicheng mumbled in his half-asleep state.

Kun grinned at his friend’s messy look.

“Yes, now go wash your face and brush your teeth first. I made coffee, but go make yourself look presentable first,” Yongqin retorted and Sicheng obediently followed his friend’s request.

Kun cleared his throat, “You cook a lot huh?”

Yongqin gulped. That smoking Kun guy sounds hot when he cleared his throat. God, he needs to collect himself. This man is a freaking behavior analyst and he definitely didn’t want to be seen like a spazzing pre-teen at this age!

“Ah, um, yeah. I’m an only kid so I have to help my mother cook all the time. But I don’t know, don’t expect too much from my cooking, Detective Qian.”

“You don’t have to be awkward with me, you know. You could also stop calling me Detective Qian. It’s a bit awkward, and people generally don’t call me with title like that too, except those who didn’t know me well,” Kun chuckled as he watched the man fidgets.

“But you’re my superior? I don't think it's polite to call you just by your first name,” Yongqin reasoned.

“Eh, it’s fine with me, though. And I’m not your superior! Chief Fan is. We’re work partners, okay? Everyone called me by my name, or even just _ge_ ,” Kun grinned before sipping his coffee.

“Should I call you just Kun then?” Yongqin grinned.

“Fine with me, Dr. Li,” he grinned back.

“I thought we decided to be on the first name basis? We’re going to be work partners, right?”

Kun laughed, “Alright then, Yongqin.”

* * *

"Guys, I got the list from Yangyang," Dejun waved a folder to the two detectives.

"Sweet, tell me about them," Kun rolled his chair closer to Dejun's desk as the man sat on top of his table.

"Shoot, screw this. We got….20 names."

"Twenty?! I thought we were already pretty specific. 30 years old female who used to live in the States... Try to get more specific! God, I haven't seen what's inside, I don't think we'll get this many," Dejun groaned. 

"We'll have to split up then. And then ask around if they have any tattoos. Then we'll round it up there," Sicheng sighed.

"Let's split into two groups. So, each group handled 10 people. How about we split up the area first? Let's check the address of each potential victim," Kun said.

The three people grouped the names into two area.

"Alright, we've got 10 names each. How should we split up?" Kun asked.

"I didn't bring my car so I'll have to join either one of you. I took a cab here today since I'm planning on crashing on Sicheng _ge_ 's again tonight," Dejun grinned.

"What? Who said you're welcomed to stay again at my place?!" Sicheng grunted.

"Great! I'll go with you then, _ge_. Kun _ge_ , you can handle the interview alone, right?" Dejun winked, ignoring Sicheng’s protests about having to babysat him completely.

Kun sighed, “Fine.”

“No, wait. Bring Yongqin, he's good at talking and both of your observant traits could be helpful. The 10 most potential names are on this list. You can go there with Yongqin," Sicheng suggests.

Kun nodded, "Okay. Can you call him upstairs? I mean I don't have his number… You know what, never mind, I'll go to the morgue."

"Wait, wait. Let's not waste time. Let me send his numbers to you. While we wait for him, let's map up our route first. The people may not be at home since it's working hours so we might have to re-route later," Sicheng said, already taking out his phone.

Kun nodded, opening up his cell phone and receiving Yongqin's contact immediately. "Go call him, I'll go and inform the chief first to tell him we're going. Xiaojun, map up our route," Sicheng said before standing up.

Dejun sent him a thumbs up and Kun called Yongqin.

"Hello...Dr. Li? This is Detective Qian."

" _Oh? What's wrong? Did you get my number from Sicheng?_ "

"Ah, yes. Sicheng wanted you to come to interview the potential victims. We've got twenty names. He'll be going with Detective Xiao so he left you with me."

" _Are we departing now? I'm useless here anyways. Should I go upstairs now?_ "

"Well, that would be nice, Dr. Li."

" _Okay! Wait for me! And oh, aren't we on an agreement on not being too formal?_ "

Kun chuckled, "Ah, right. Well, I'll be waiting upstairs, Yongqin."

Kun stared at the list and began making a priority list on who to visit first. It's all within nearby areas but he needs to map out things first for efficiency reasons.

"Hey, I've told the chief. Dejun, let's go first. Are you done with the mapping?"

"Nearly done. Let's finish it in your car. _Kun_ _ge_ , you'll be fine right with Dr. Li?" Dejun said as he grabbed his belongings.

"I'll be alright," Kun nodded, giving the man a thumbs up.

"Okay. Take care, _ge_. We'll go first. Let's notify each other if one of us is already done so we can help each other," Sicheng patted his shoulder.

Kun nodded again before going back to his list.

10 names, 10 different residencies. He'll have to be efficient.

"Kun?"

Kun looked back to see Yongqin standing near his desk. Sicheng dropped him and Dejun at the station earlier this morning and he went with Yongqin to Yongqin’s home to shower before going back so he didn't see Yongqin again after breakfast. He looked kinda cute in an oversized checkered shirt and jeans. He always dressed neatly since he's a doctor but maybe because he's been tagging along with them, his way of dressing changed a bit to accommodate the required mobility.

"Oh, Yongqin. Shall we go now? We have a long day ahead of us."

"Sure. Let's go," Yongqin smiled.

He led him to his car and opened the passenger door for him.

"My car isn't as nice as Sicheng’s but this would suffice," he smiled.

Yongqin entered the car with a grin, "As long as it could take us places, Kun.”

Kun started the car, "So, we're supposed to interview ten people today. See if they fit our criteria."

"That sounds like a lot…"

Kun chuckled, "Well, it has been established that the ten women we're interviewing are all 30 years of age and has lived in the States at certain point of their life."

"So, we need to find out if she has any tattoos, and she's supposed to not have black hair, right? I mean our killer most likely dyed the hair of the previous three victims," Yongqin said.

Kun nodded, "That's right. The interview itself shouldn't take long. But maneuvering between people is going to be hard since there are possibilities that they're at work, not at home."

"Okay then. So, who's the first female?"

"It's Zhou Jieqiong. She lived around this area," Kun stated as his car stopped in front of an apartment complex.

"The other person on the list, Que Yiren, lived in the apartment complex across it. You didn't mind walking, right?" Kun asked.

Yongqin shrugged, "Good thing I'm wearing sneakers."

Kun grinned, "Alrighty then. Let's go."

The two of them entered the apartment complex and into the elevator that will bring them Zhou Jieqiong's unit.

"Unit 1220…. 1220… Here it is," Kun mused before pressing the bell.

The door was instantly opened, revealing a tanned girl with green ombre hair.

"Yes?"

"Good morning, ma'am. I'm Detective Qian Kun and this is Dr. Li Yongqin, we're from Beijing Haidian District Police Station. Is this the residence of Ms. Zhou Jieqiong?"

The lady nodded, "Yes, Zhou Jieqiong is my sister. Why are you guys looking for her? She's still in the States."

"Can we have a little talk...Miss…?"

"Zhou Jiehua. Please do come in."

The two of them entered the apartment, which was very eccentric.

"Did my sister commit any crimes? She might look wild but she's mostly good," the woman said defensively.

"Ah, no, Miss Zhou. It's just that there have been three murders happening around Haidian area. Our investigation led to the clue that the next possible victim would be a female that is 30 years old and has lived in the States. It's also important to note that the female didn't have black hair and has any sort of tattoos. Did your sister fit into the category?" Kun explained.

The woman gasped before picking up a picture frame from the coffee table.

"This is my younger sister Jieqiong. This picture was taken last week. She's the one with the pink hair. Yes she's 30 and as you can see about the tattoo…"

Yongqin nodded, remembering the face. Zhou Jieqiong had bright bubblegum pink hair that reached her waist, tanned skin, a sleeve full of tattoos, and also a nose piercing.

"Did she used to live in the States?"

"My sister is a tattoo artist. She still lives in New York, only coming back home once in a while. She came here last week for my birthday, but she probably won't come back until Christmas."

Kun nodded. "We advised you to tell your sister to stay back in the US until this case is cleared. Her profile fits the murderer's criteria, and it's unsafe for her to be here."

"Alright, I'll tell her that. And I hope the case will quickly be solved. It's scary knowing a killer is still on the run, haunting the neighborhood."

"We hoped for the same thing, Miss Zhou. This is the number of our precinct. Should you need any assistance or if you suspected anything, please do not hesitate to contact the number or go straight to the precinct. We'll be glad to help and offer safety to the citizens," Kun bowed.

"Thank you so much, Detective. Hope the case got solved well," the woman bowed back as she received the name card.

Yongqin and Kun bid goodbye to the woman before walking out of the apartment to the next destination.

"It's good that Zhou Jieqiong is out of the country. She might not be our prime suspect victim, but to be safe we still need to put her sister on our list. They look pretty similar, the killer might confuse the two of them," Yongqin said as he crossed Zhou Jieqiong's name from the list.

"I agreed. 1 down, 9 to go. So, Que Yiren is next. Let's go."

The two of them entered the next apartment complex and went straight to the fifth floor where Que Yiren lives. Kun pressed the bell and came face to face with a lady with light brown hair. She could be her.

"Good morning. I'm Detectice Qian Kun and this is my partner Dr. Li Yongqin from Beijing Haidian District Police Station. We're here to ask Que Yiren's testimony on something. Is this her residence?"

The woman nodded, "Ah yes, Yiren is going to the convenience store downstairs. Would you like to come inside? I'm Que Feihua, her cousin."

"Ah, we'd love that. Thank you," Yongqin bowed as he went inside.

They sat on the couch as the lady served them a cup of tea each before excusing herself to finish her work. Apparently, she worked as a painter, and the pair spent the time waiting for Que Yiren by watching her cousin paints near the window. After ten minutes, a light brown-haired lady entered the apartment loudly.

" _Jie jie_! I've bought the bread! Shal—Oh, we have guests? I'm sorry," the woman bowed and grinned sheepishly.

"Yiren, they're from the police station and they're looking for you," the cousin said without looking away from her painting. Que Yiren blinked confusedly before sitting across Kun and Yongqin.

"Good morning, Miss Que. I'm Detective Qian Kun and this is my partner Dr. Li Yongqin. We're here to ask you some questions."

"Don't worry, we're not here to arrest you. You're cleared from any crimes!" Yongqin quickly added when he detected the panic look in the girl's eyes.

"Oh… okay. I got scared for a second," the girl chuckled nervously.

"So, Miss Que, here in Haidian, 3 murders had occurred and it's possibly by the same killer. We've looked into the pattern and stuffs, and we predicted that the next possible victim would probably be a 30 years old female that used to live in the States. Did you fit the criteria?"

The woman nodded nervously, "Well, if you put it that way then yes. I used to go to RISD with my cousin there. She studied painting and I studied graphic design. We lived in Rhode Island for 6 years."

Yongqin nodded and took his notes. "Miss Que, did you perhaps have any tattoo?" Yongqin asked carefully.

"Tattoo? Me? No! I don't do tattoos. Why?"

Kun sighed in relief, "That's good to hear. All of our victims had some sorts of tattoo so we think the next victim—hopefully there isn't any—will have a tattoo as well. But should you feel any suspicion or anything, this is our precinct contact information. You could call our hotline or go straight there."

The girl nodded, "Alright. I hope I'm not the next target. I rarely left the apartment since my cousin and I mostly do freelance work from home. Hope it'll keep me safe."

"We hope so. You have CCTVs installed, right?" Yongqin asked.

"Yeah, one in the balcony and one in front of the door."

"That's a relief. We'll get going then. Thank you so much for your time, Miss Que."

"Likewise, Detective, and Doctor."

* * *

Kun and Yongqin sat inside the car as they read their list. Out of ten people, they’ve interviewed six. And out of the six, two people weren't at home so they have to reroute and visit them in their workplace. So far only one person that ticked all of the box, which was Zhou Jieqiong who was still abroad.

"Four more to go, Kun. And I'm starving already," Yongqin sighed.

"Han Li, Qi Meili, Alisa Wen, and Yi Baixian… Yep. Four more. To Han Li's place first. Qi Meili apparently lived in the same building, only on different floors," Kun said as he parked his car.

"Alright, let's go!" Yongqin followed Kun to the third floor and knocked on the door. It opened, revealing a very tall woman with black pixie cut hair. Yongqin inwardly crosses her out of the list since she has black hair. Kun sighed, repeating his introductory lines for the seventh time today.

"Oh, please come in," the woman said.

Kun politely shook his head. "We just wanted to ask a few questions, Miss Han. Regarding to what I said, is it true that you are 30 years and you used to live in the States?"

"Yeah. I used to live in Texas."

"Miss Han, do you perhaps have any tattoos?" Yongqin asked.

"No, I don't. Why?"

"That's a relief. The murderer had a particularity to tattooed people. I think that's all that we can ask. Thank you very much for your time, Miss Han. Should you need any police assistance, this is the precinct hotline number," Kun bowed before handing her a card.

Yongqin bowed as well before following Kun to the elevator.

"Qi Meili is next, right?"

"Yep."

They went to the seventh floor and was met with a small commotion of a man and a woman fighting. They were throwing insults at one another in the middle of the hallway, and Kun and Yongqin stopped in their tracks, unsure of what to do. The woman threw her hands up in defeat before briskly going to a unit.

"Hey, that's our girl, Qi Meili! Unit 708, right?" Yongqin whispered.

"I think so. Should we step in?" Kun bent down a bit and whispered back to Yongqin's ear, causing the man to shiver at the taller guy's voice.

_Focus, Li Yongqin!_

Yonqin cleared his throat and nodded, walking to unit 708 nervously since the man and woman were still arguing by the door.

"Excuse me, are you perhaps Miss Qi Meili?" Yongqin spoke up.

The couple stopped fighting instantaneously.

"Yes, it's me. Who are you?"

Yongqin smiled, deciding to do the introduction for once since he knew Kun is probably sick of doing it already. "I am Dr. Li Yongqin, and this is my partner Detective Qian Kun. We're from Beijing Haidian District Police Station. We'd like to ask you a few questions, if we may."

"What did you do? You bitch!"

Yongqin balked when the man started firing insults at the woman.

"Excuse me, sir. Miss Qi Meili is not committing crimes of any kind, we're here to question her about something else. So, Miss Qi? Can we talk?" Yongqin said firmly.

Kun mentally applauded Yongqin's brazenness. His stature looks composed and confident, Kun could see that the male is not scared at all at the man in front of him.

"Listen to the officers, Shihuan. Screw off. Sorry for the trouble, officers. Please come in."

The man left with a string of curses and Yongqin politely entered the apartment, Kun following suit.

"Thank you for saving me from my ex-boyfriend. He's been harassing me," Qi Meili bowed.

"It's our job as a part of the law enforcement system. If he kept tailing you or even threatening you, you can come to our precinct and our friends from the Violence and Crimes unit would gladly help you. This is our precinct hotline," Kun handed her the card.

The woman nodded thankfully.

"So, anyways, Miss Qi. We are from the Homicide unit, and we're currently investigating a serial killer murder. We're now trying to avoid the possibilities of a next killing. Apparently, our killer has a certain pattern and we suspected that the next possible victim would be a 30 years old female who used to live in the States, and had a tattoo."

"Does the circumstances apply to you, Miss Qi?" Yongqin asked politely.

"Well, yeah, I'm 30 years old. I used to live in Georgia for two years. I do have a tattoo on my hip. Does that mean I'm in danger?" She trembled.

"You could potentially be in danger, Miss. We advised you to come to our precinct tomorrow to provide you with safety and to talk to our team and precinct chief. We'll try to give you the protection needed," Kun added.

"Tomorrow? What time? I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow," she sighed.

"Any time you're free, do come to the precinct," Kun nodded.

"Alright, thank you so much officers," Qi Meili bowed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twt @nauranindyaa if you want to stop by for a chat! thank you for anyone that is reading this story, commenting, or leaving kudos. <3


	9. suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yongqin and Kun got a lot closer. Meanwhile, one of the suspected target victim's abusive boyfriend raised a red flag, and Kun had a feeling that things aren't going to be that simple.

"Ah, there's only 2 that we need to find now, right?" Yongqin asked as he ate a spoonful of his _mapo tofu_ _._

Kun nodded as he chewed. "So far, one person is still in the States and the other is Qi Meili. That's two possible victims. We have approximately two and a half weeks before the estimated murder time.”

Yongqin sighed, "I don't understand why the killer sent the body to the precinct. To you too!"

"I know. It's advantageous for the killer. We only had the bodies. We don't know the crime scene so we're left with minimum to no clues," Kun explained.

"I agree with you on that. But what confuses me is why the killer sent it to you? Sicheng said you don’t have any enemies.”

Kun shrugged, "Truthfully, I don’t know it as well. If someone hates me than it's probably the bad guys I’ve caught. And to be honest, there aren't many of them around. They're either already punished dead, on a death sentence, or rotting away in prisons. It baffled me as well. Chief Fan and I used to be in the same team. He was the leader. I’ve worked with Dejun too for quite some time after Chief Fan got promoted. But why did the killer send it to me only? Not that I want them to get bodies as well. No, God forbid that from happening please.”

Yongqin nodded as he sipped his drink. "It's weird. But oh well, let's not dwell on it and just focus on solving this case. And… food first! Let's finish eating," Yongqin grinned.

“Alright, let’s finish eating and then go talk to the remaining two women,” Kun smiled.

* * *

Kun followed Yongqin as the shorter male entered the precinct. Yongqin immediately plopped on Sicheng’s seat. Sicheng and Dejun were not in sight, probably still going around interviewing the women on the list.

“Going out with the new forensic guy?”

Kun turned to see Detective Liu grinning. The man was busy putting on his mic and stuff while Detective Zhang was seen putting on a bulletproof vest. Yongqin politely bowed at the more senior officers and watched with curiosity as police officers around him got busy.

“Interviewing people. We got a lead. Sicheng said he has amazing memory skills; so, understandably, we need him for this. How about you, Detective Liu? Stake out?” Kun asked back casually.

“Yeah, Yixing and I got some important leads. We’re going to tail a possible drug transaction downtown. Wish us luck, eh?” Detective Liu grinned as he finished setting up his headset and mic.

“Good luck, Detective Liu,” Kun gave him a salute before going to sit on his own desk.

“They looked cool. A stake out?” Yongqin asked curiously.

“Uh uh.”

“Sicheng used to be in their team, right? Did he used to go on stake outs too?”

Kun chuckled, “Of course he did. Can you imagine Sicheng doing such things, though? He’s never good at the actual chasing parts, but he’s smart and had a pretty tactical brain. He always stayed back at the car, monitoring CCTV and the movements of both his team and the opponent. His witty and clever personality was useful.”

“How about you and Detective Xiao? Have you ever done a stake out?”

“A lot of time. But a very serious stake out like what Detective Liu and Detective Zhang did, maybe only two or three times? It’s not as physically challenging as doing a drug stake out, but the thrill is no joke since we’re trying to capture murderers. There had been quite many instances where our two teams had to work together on some joint operations, and those were my favorites,” Kun mused.

“Have you ever got hurt? Sicheng never admitted of being hurt.”

“Of course, we did, countless times. We’ve even got shot before. We’ve received stitches all over the place,” Kun shrugged nonchalantly.

“Got shot? Why didn’t I know that Sicheng got shot?! If our parents knew, oh, dear!” Yongqin freaked out.

Kun chuckled, playfully patting the shorter male’s head, “Calm down, we both only got shot on our lower legs, we were totally okay. Only like being…. grazed by the bullets, I think? We didn’t even need surgery. But we did succeed on shooting our target on the leg and injured him so that’s okay. It happened like two or three years ago and we’re still doing fine, no need to worry.”

Yongqin shook his head to remove Kun’s hand, “You guys are crazy.”

“How about you? What’s your experience as a forensic?” Kun supported his chin with his palm as he turned to face Yongqin.

“Meh, nothing too interesting. Dongcheng barely has any cases, remember? I think I learned more in Med school. And definitely here. Dr. Lu is very helpful too. I hope I can stay and work here for a long time,” Yongqin shrugged as he brushed his hair using his fingers, tidying it up.

Kun smiled, “I hope so too. You’re very talented. A gem for this precinct. You helped me and the two guys discover more leads in a few days more than we did in two months.”

Yongqin faintly blushed at the compliment and brushed him off, “Ah, I was just doing my job. And besides, the three of you are great detectives as well. I’m sure together we can solve this case.”

Kun was about to answer when he noticed his two partners coming in.

“Oi, _ge_. Shall we go to the meeting room and talk?” Sicheng said as he approached his desk, stopping to mussed up Yongqin’s hair, earning a string of curses from him considering that Yongqin just brushed his hair.

“Aish, I hate you! You better drive me home today, okay?” Yongqin pouted before stomping to the meeting room.

“What’s his problem?” Sicheng laughed when he saw his friend sulked.

“You’re just being a menace,” Kun chuckled as he stood up to follow Yongqin who had dragged Dejun with him.

Sicheng shook his head and jogged to follow his friends to the meeting room. Yongqin had plopped next to Kun and was sending daggers to his direction.

Sicheng grinned before sitting next to Dejun. "So, how's the result of today's interviews?" Sicheng said.

"You first," Kun said. He wanted to hear his friends’ report first before telling them about the two potential victims from his list.

"Alright. We got one name. Han Hui. Used to live in Ohio for three years. Had a tattoo on her wrist. How about you guys?"

"There's two. Qi Meili and Zhou Jieqiong. But Zhou Jieqiong is still in the States right now. It turned out that she mostly stayed there, only going back for certain occasions. Does that count?" Kun said.

"Wow. Okay. That makes her much safer. Can we ban her from entering China though?" Dejun commented.

"We met her sister and advised her to tell her sister not come back here for a while," Kun answered.

"How about the other one?"

"Qi Meili?"

"Yes. Her."

"Wait, let me check my notes," Kun said.

"Excuse me, you have a walking memory card here, Kun," Yongqin nudged him, causing the man to chuckle.

"Go ahead then," he smiled.

"Qi Meili used to live in Georgia. She has a tattoo on her hip. She has light pinkish brown hair," Yongqin recited lightly.

"So, we had two potential victims then. Qi Meili and Han Hui. Shall we ask them to come to the precinct then? To brief them and give them a security detail," Kun said.

"We should. Especially with Qi Meili, since she has an abusive boyfriend," Yongqin nodded.

"She has an abusive boyfriend?"

"Yep. Your fierce friend here stopped them when they were in the middle of a couple fight," Kun said, throwing a grin to Yongqin’s side.

"Well, you weren't doing anything! And I was so hungry, I can't just sit and wait for their petty fight to end!" Yongqin protested, giving Kun's arm a playful slap. Which he kind of regretted because the way Kun’s dimples seemed to be more prominent as he laughed is definitely messing with his mind.

"Wow, the two of you got awfully closer together, _ge_ ," Dejun teased.

"I have to put up with him since he's Sicheng's precious little Yongqin, aren't you?" Kun stuck out his tongue at Yongqin.

"Whatever! I’m not little, Detective Xiao is smaller than me—”

“Hey! Don’t drag me into this!” Dejun groaned.

“Anyways, I'm going to go to the morgue, see if I can help Dr. Lu with anything!" Yongqin slapped Kun's back before going out.

"Did he give you a hard time?" Sicheng asked.

"Nah, he's chill and fun. Like a shorter version of you. Well, maybe more fun than you, amusing at least. But he's fierce like you. Determined. Sharp witted. And oh, he's all about the fine details," Kun mused.

"You analyzed her, huh, _ge_?" Dejun grinned.

"I can't help it, I analyzed everybody," Kun shrugged.

"God, life would be a disaster if you dated him. Two very observant people together, phew! I would be nitpicked constantly 24/7," Sicheng laughed.

(((Just a heads up, but what Sicheng said _definitely_ didn't age well)))

* * *

It was a slow day. There were no bodies to deal with so Dr. Lu was called in to help an investigation in PAP main office, and Yongqin was bored. And that would be an understatement because he felt like he was rotting in the cold morgue. He was so damn bored he spent the day re-dissecting the three bodies, trying to find anything, only to find nothing. Dr. Lu is meticulous and experienced, way far more experienced than Yongqin in this field and that's why every single finding had been written in the forensic reports and no matter how many times Yongqin tried to open up the decaying bodies, he found nothing new.

"You know what, screw this." He zipped up the bags and stored each body back in their fridges before disposing his gloves and throwing his white coat haphazardly into his office. He picked his bag and took the elevator up, wanting to bug the three detectives and offer any help.

"Oh, Yongqin!”

He looked up as he exited the elevator, and smiled upon noticing Kun exiting the pantry with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Busy, Kun?"

"There's no new leads so I'm helping out the Narcs write down some reports. You?"

"Bored out of my wits. I'll offer any help to anyone right now," he groaned as he followed him to his desk. He smiled to a few officers passing by—they're already used to seeing the new forensic doctor hanging out with Team 1 and he was proven helpful so nobody paid any attention to him mingling with the three detectives.

"Sit down," Kun pulled a random chair next to him and he sat down hesitantly.

"Where's Sicheng? And Detective Xiao?"

“Dejun’s bugging Yangyang on his desk. Not that Yangyang mind. I supposed I could join them, but I’m not in the mood for their mischief,” Kun chuckled.

“Sicheng?”

"The Narcs needed him for some undercover job. They used to be his team, so he willingly helped," Kun shrugged.

“And you?”

"I just had a meeting with Chief Fan and some other directors regarding giving Han Hui and Qi Meili some security details. He's also trying to issue a travel ban for Zhou Jieqiong to make sure she won't step her feet in this country and potentially endanger herself. And now, I’m just going to help Detective Liu and Detective Zhang finished this because I have nothing to do at the moment," Kun explained as he twirled a pen between his fingers, his eyes set on the reports sprawled before him.

"Is this the report you’re working on? Can I help you then? I'm bored," Yongqin whined.

Kun turned to look at him in amusement. He never sees him whine before. At least, not to him.

"Are you seriously offering yourself to write down some boring reports?" He cocked a brow curiously.

"Or, I can try to read some documents and summarize them so it will be easier for you to write. I'm a quick reader, you know," Yongqin smiled winningly.

"Bring it on then," Kun grinned before pushing a stack of documents towards him. He shook his head in mild disbelief and equal parts amusement when Yongqin’s eyes lit up and he started to read the documents with burning passion.

For a while they were enveloped in silence, until Yongqin pushed down a few documents towards him.

"I wrote down the summary in a sticky note on the front of each document," he said.

Kun smiled as he saw his neat scribbles on top of the lousy sticky notes he had. "Thanks a bunch, Yongqin," he bumped his shoulder.

Yongqin grinned before delving back into his documents. With his assistance, Kun managed to finish the reports in record time. He's pretty sure Detective Liu and Detective Zhang would be amazed and delighted by this.

"It's all done?" Yongqin asked as he laid his head on Kun’s desk, watching him scanned over the reports he just wrote.

"I'm pretty sure that's it. I'll drop them at Detective Liu's desk first," he said as he stood up.

"Good. And don't take too long since I'm still bored and I need you to entertain me," Yongqin grinned.

Kun chuckled and mussed up his hair, ignoring his protests as he waltzed his way to the Narcotics division.

* * *

Sicheng got back from his side job with Team 2, finding Yonqin lounging around with Kun.

"Hey, Yongqin _ge_. Fancy seeing you here," he grinned before plopping on his chair and swiveling his way towards him.

"I'm bored. Dr. Lu is helping out PAP. And your buddy here, is great enough to keep me company," he grinned.

"How was the meeting, _ge_? You had a meeting with the higher ups while I’m gone, right?" Sicheng asked, and immediately noticing the tense look on the elder’s face.

"They agreed on giving Han Hui and Qi Meili protection."

"That's supposed to be good," Yongqin quipped.

"They refused the travel ban though, opting for us to contact Zhou Jieqiong and tell her not to come here instead of forcing a travel ban. They said the bureaucracy is too difficult to issue a travel ban since we don't have actual leads on why she's a target."

"Let’s call her later, or maybe through her friend that lived in her apartment," Yongqin nodded.

"And so? They're still going to be safe, right? Why do you look so anxious?" Sicheng asked.

"Because the stakes are high. We're going closer to revealing who's our murderer. We're installing CCTVs around Han Hui and Qi Meili's residence, hoping we'll get to see people they interact with and try to figure out if one of them is the killer," Kun sighed.

"That sounds promising, not depressing," Sicheng said.

"And that worries me, Cheng. My gut told me things aren't going to be that simple," Kun grunted.

Yongqin nodded along, understanding Kun’s worries.

Sicheng too, he understood Kun’s worries now. Kun is such a good cop and a great detective not only because he's smart, agile, and skillful in his field, but because he also has good instincts. And when his gut feeling said things would go wrong, Sicheng knew better than anyone that he should probably worry along with his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy CNY and Happy Valentine's Day (belatedly)!
> 
> twt: @nauranindyaa


	10. abusive ex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qi Meili's abusive ex-boyfriend raised a warning sign for the team, and there's only a limited time before the killer (alledgedly) strikes again.

Kun inspected the workers that had just finished installing the CCTV in front of Qi Meili's apartment unit. The woman is conversing with Yongqin who was calming her.

"It's all done, Detective. The footages will be saved in our system, and the police could see it anytime you guys want to through your IT. I talked to Officer Liu Yangyang about this," the worker said.

"Thank you, sir." Kun bowed and went inside the unit where Yongqin is sitting closely to the owner of the residence.

"Ms. Qi, you're going to be safe. The CCTVs we installed will also help look out for you if your abusive ex-boyfriend came back. Please do not hesitate to call our precinct if he disturbed you. We can lock him in our cell for at least two nights, serve him with a restraining order, or even issue a probation afterwards," Yongqin said sincerely as he held Qi Meili’s hands.

"Thank you, Dr. Li. And Detective Qian. I hope I'll be safe," she bowed her head.

"Alright. We'll get going then, Ms. Qi. Please, like Dr. Li said, do not hesitate to contact us if you required any help," Kun stood up and bowed, followed by Yongqin.

They bid their goodbyes and exited the building. "Anyways, Sicheng texted me asking for bruise cream," Kun said as he looked at his phone.

"Should we stop by a pharmacy? There's one not too far from the precinct," Yongqin suggested as he followed Kun to his car. Kun nodded and drove them to a pharmacy, a ten minutes’ drive away.

_Aqua Pharmacy_

Kun glanced at the sign before opening the door. The bell chimed as they entered the place, and they were greeted immediately by a man who looked about the same age as them.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"

Yongqin smiled and began asking for the medicine and Kun silently watched as he looked at his surroundings. There are multiple shelves lined with medicines. He turned his attention back to the man who was going to a room, and coming back with a tube of something.

"Here it is, sir. Is that all?"

"Yeah, that's all. How much is it?" asked.

"That'll be 20 _yuan_."

Yongqin reached for his wallet but Kun was quicker to fetch his wallet from his back pocket and handed the guy a 20- _yuan_ bill.

"It's cheap, I could've paid for it," he grumbled.

Kun patted his head, as he pocketed the change, "Sicheng asked to burden me, not you. Come on, let's go back." He glanced back and smiled at the kind man behind the counter, looking at his nametag.

"Thanks, Mr. Jin.”

* * *

Yongqin entered the precinct and grimaced when he saw Sicheng with his sleeves rolled up, a few bluish marks marking his pale arm.

"Jesus, that looks awful," Kun grimaced.

"Sicheng! What happened?! Is this why you told Kun and not me?!”

"The undercover blew up. Yixing _ge_ nearly got busted. He's nursing a broken rib right now. I was slammed by one of the thugs when he realized I wasn't a customer. But I'm mostly fine, and Team 2 managed to catch the dealers so it's all good. You got the cream, Kun _ge_?"

Kun nodded and handed him the tube before leaving to the pantry to grab drinks for all of them. Sicheng whistled as if nothing's wrong while he began applying the ointment on his bruises.

"They'll ache later at night. It worries me that you seemed pretty nonchalant about it," Yongqin commented.

"Trust me, Yongqin _ge_ , it's nothing out of the ordinary. Instead, you should be more worried about Kun, he’s the one who had been grazed by a bullet and…. I'd rather not explain since he is coming in 3...2...1! Hi, _ge_!" Sicheng grinned.

Kun frowned as he handed Sicheng a glass of water.

“How does this happen, Cheng?”

"Nothing much. Like I said, blown up undercover. Save your worries for Yixing _ge_ , he's still in the ER," Sicheng rolled his eyes.

Kun visibly balked, "God, you're on my team now. I should probably berate Detective Liu for putting you in danger. You're not part of that team any—"

"Anymore and I'm not obligated to join their stake outs and attacks. Geez, Kun _ge_ , I knew. It's just that things have been slow and they needed help. With the Black Dragon cartel being caught last year, more rings are being discovered and the Narcs had been busy. It’s not like I have things to do anyway," Sicheng smiled to calm his leader.

Kun sighed and Yongqin silently smiled. Detective Qian might look tough and intimidating but really, he's a softie towards his members.

"Anyways, how the CCTV installments?" Sicheng turned to Kun and Yongqin.

"It went well. Han Hui and Qi Meili accepted it well."

"The worker said we can get the footages directly from Officer Liu Yangyang. I’ll ask Xiaojun to get updates from Yangyang frequently. And oh, Qi Meili has an abusive ex-boyfriend, so we might need to look out for him," Kun added.

"That's one more problem added to our plate, great," Xiaojun who just sauntered in rolled his eyes.

"His name is Wu Shihuan, he has cropped hair with a fade cut on the sides. Tattoos on his arms. He's around your height but a bit more built in figure. He has no double eyelids," Yongqin recited.

He met him once when he was fighting with Qi Meili that one day when he first interviewed her with Kun. He asked Qi Meili his name earlier this afternoon when they were installing CCTVs at her place.

"You are indeed a walking memory card," Kun mused.

Yongqin pretended to flip his hair in a teasing manner, causing the three detectives to laugh.

"He was pretty rash in his actions, and he looked at Qi Meili in a condescending manner. Calling her sluts and stuffs. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how much of a jerk he is. Let's be safe and try to dig information about him, see if he's related to the case or just a bump in our road," Kun said.

"Very well, I'll ask Yangyang to look him up in our system. See if he has any records," Dejun gave them a thumbs up before disappearing again, probably to see Officer Liu Yangyang.

"You guys worked amazingly good together. I was right, having two observant people together is amazing," Sicheng grinned as he rolled his sleeve back down, finished with his bruises.

"Well, he made a great partner. For once I enjoyed going to interviews since I have extra eyes and ears with me," Kun grinned.

Yongqin shrugged, "It's better to talk to people with him than to dead corpses by myself…”

* * *

Kun was reading the daily news on his computer, meanwhile Yongqin was swiveling around on a chair next to him, reading on an old Conan comic he randomly found on Kun’s drawers. Sicheng was playing Tetris on his PC and Dejun as usual was bugging Yangyang out. Just then a young officer came to his desk.

"Detective Qian, Dr. Li."

"Yes, Officer?" Kun answered.

"A woman claimed to know both of you and have seen you guys twice. She said her name is Qi Meili and she's here to see the two of you," the young male said.

"Qi Meili is here? Bring her in then," Kun nodded.

Yongqin closed the comic on his hands.

"What date it today?" Yongqin mused as he peered over Kun's shoulder to try to see the date on his computer.

_May 29th._

"Why?" Kun asked. His question is left unanswered when a distraught looking Qi Meili came inside the office.

"D-detective... and Dr. Li," she whispered.

Yongqin stood up immediately and led her to the meeting room, following Kun who signaled him to go there first. He ignored the confused look on Sicheng's face and entered the room, allowing the poor woman to sit down.

She bursts into tears and Yongqin pulled her into a hug immediately.

"I… I'll go get some water," Kun said, feeling awkward and decided to flee.

"Is that the supposed target? Who was it again, Qi Meili?" Sicheng asked curiously as he followed Kun to the pantry.

Kun nodded as he filled a mug with water. "We mentioned that her ex-boyfriend was kind of a jerk a few days ago. I think it's related to that since she's crying and Yongqin is trying to console her."

"Geez," Sicheng sighed.

"I'll get there first. Go to Xiaojun, I’m pretty sure he’s with Yangyang. Ask Yangyang for the CCTV footages of Qi Meili’s house. Um… and contact VCU for me?" Kun said.

"Atta."

Kun entered the meeting room, finding Qi Meili already calming down a little and Yongqin patting her shoulder.

"Have some water first, Ms. Qi," Kun offered her.

The woman shot him a thankful smile before gulping down the water.

"He came again..." she said in a shaky voice.

"He...? Your…"

"Yes, Shihuan, my ex. We changed the security system of my unit, so he was flippant when he couldn't enter my apartment. I wasn't there when that happened, I was still at work. I forgot my laptop so I headed back and I saw him and he slapped me," she choked.

Kun sighed, noticing her reddish cheeks.

"I've asked my officer to look up the CCTV footages. This isn't our work portion so someone from violence and crimes unit will take care of it. But since you're linked to our case, we'll monitor closely," Kun explained calmly.

He could see that the woman is scared and anxious. Genuinely so. He was an expert at analyzing behavior and he's done enough analysis to know who faked and who didn't. This woman clearly didn't.

"Thank you, detective."

"It's our job," Kun smiled.

"By the way, Ms. Qi, have you encountered someone unusual, lately?" Yongqin asked suddenly.

Kun turned to him confusedly.

"Not any that I know of. I went to work as usual, and I haven't met any friends or family in the past few days besides my co-worker," she shook her head.

"Okay. I was just curious," Yongqin smiled.

Kun could see he was beyond curious. There's some kind of thoughts formed in that pretty little head of his.

Just then, Dejun popped his head in. "Uhm, sorry to interfere, but Officer Han from VCU came to deal with this. And Kun _ge_ , I got something," Dejun smiled before leaving.

And then a man a few years older than Kun entered the room. "I am Han Zhouhu from Violence and Crime Unit. Is this Miss Qi Meili?"

"Y-yes, that's me."

"Okay, let's have a talk. It’s okay, we can talk here. No need to move offices," the man smiled kindly.

Kun and Yongqin bowed at him before politely excusing themselves to see Yangyang peering closely at Sicheng's computer screen with Dejun and Sicheng beside him.

" _Da ge!_ And Dr. Li! Here’s the CCTV footages!" Yangyang grinned excitedly.

Kun and Yongqin stared at the scene on the screen, looking at Wu Shihuan violently kicking the apartment door and banging on it, shaking the door knob harshly. Yangyang skipped a few parts and revealed a scene where Qi Meili came to find him, and he started barking at her and slapping her.

"She wasn't lying. I knew it. It shows," Kun muttered.

"We should figure out is he's related to the case or just a very damned coincidence," Sicheng said solemnly.

"Well, I already raided through our record database. Wu Shihuan had a few parking tickets, and a DUI case from back in college. He was also involved in a brawl two years ago, but that's it," Yangyang shrugged.

"DUI and brawl. Already enough signs to tell that he's reckless and emotional. VCU will be taking this case but we're allowed to interfere since it crossed with our case. Officer Han said so. Let's see if they could get a warrant or arrest him, and we'll try to check his alibis," Dejun said.

“Well, my job here is done. I’ll go back to my own desk. Xiaojun _ge,_ come by my desk again later! Bye Sicheng _ge,_ Dr. Li, and Kun _da ge_!” Yangyang cheerily waved before leaving.

Yongqin nodded before going to his chair—a random swivel chair Kun pulled for him, situated comfortably between his desk and Sicheng’s.

Kun silently watched him and he rolled his eyes, "I could feel you analyzing me, Kun."

Kun grinned before plopping on his own chair. "You looked distracted. You have something thought up."

"Fine, psychic."

"I'm not a psychic, just highly observant," Kun grinned.

"It's May 29th today."

"Yeah. So?"

"So?? Kun, for God's sake. We're losing time!"

"Time?"

"I made a guess about the killing pattern before. The body will be sent every month on the day where the date is equal to the number of the month subtracted by one. And then the murder happened at a certain day according to the decaying state of the body when it was sent here. First, the body was murdered 6 days before it was sent here. Then 5. Then 4. If the next murder happened, we'll have a body delivered here on June 5th. And if things seriously went as planned—"

"The target would be murdered on June 2nd," Kun finished his sentence and he nodded.

"We have less than 3 days," Yongqin said.

Just then, they watched Chief Fan coming out from his office.

They all bowed as the tall man approached their desks.

"One of the targets went here, Qi Meili," Kun informed.

"Who?"

"Qi Meili. The one with the abusive ex. Apparently her ex came and taunted her. Good thing we installed the CCTV and changed her security system. VCU is working on it," Kun explained.

The chief grimly nod, “Anything else?”

"If our guesses were right, Chief, 3 days from now Han Hui, Qi Meili, or Zhou Jieqiong would be murdered. And 3 days after that, her body will be here, on top of my desk," Kun said glumly.

"Let's ask for more intense security details. Especially since one of our targets has a suspicious ex as well," Sicheng piped.

"I’ve told Chief Fan,” Kun glanced at their chief.

Chief Fan massaged his temples tiredly, “I’ve tried talking to the Directors. The protection program… It was already blowing our budget and they've been commenting on our slow progress. It's killing me."

Yongqin stood up and gave Kun’s arm a supportive squeeze

"Thanks," Kun smiled.

“I’ll try to talk to the directors again, okay? For now, continue on with your work Detectives,” Chief Fan said before retreating back to his room.

"Qi Meili is a target of domestic abuse, and a potential target for murder. It's enough reason to put her on a protection program," Dejun grumbled once Chief Fan is out of reach

"I know. The fact that we have CCTV footages of her being harassed should help. Shall I go and talk to the chief again?" Sicheng offered.

"Thanks, guys. But it's okay. I'll talk again to Chief Fan about it, or ask to see the directors," Kun sighed.

"I have a better idea," Yongqin grinned.

"Spill."

"The way to a man's heart is through his woman."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twt: nauranindyaa
> 
> thank you for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos <3


	11. not our killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yongqin finally gets to see how an interrogation works. But bad news for the team: it doesn't seems like Wu Shihuan is their killer. Back to ground zero.

"Welcome to—Oh! Sicheng! Qinqin!"

Kun and Dejun blinked upon entering the pastel-colored cafe and watched as a petite woman haul Yongqin into her embrace.

When they parted, they noticed the woman immediately as Chief Fan Zhoumi’s wife, Wang Fei.

"I hope you don't mind me bringing Sicheng and his detective friends here, _jie_."

"Not at all! Grab a spot to sit, I'll come back soon with the menu," the woman smiled and Yongqin led the three boys into a table.

"Isn't that Chief Fan's wife?" Dejun asked as Kun laughed, finally getting a clue on what Yongqin was thinking.

"Yes. She owned this cafe," Yongqin nodded.

Just then a tall girl with blazing pink hair came to take their order. "Yongqin- _er_ , long time no see! Sicheng- _er_ , you too. I see you guys bringing friends along. Good!"

"Guys, this is Jia _jie_ , my friend," Yongqin smiled.

"Hi," Dejun grinned at the charming woman, followed with Kun who just bowed his head.

Yongqin fluidly recited their order and turned back to the three men.

"So, what's your plan?"

"Chief Fan always went here to pick his wife up after work. I say Kun to feign surprise to see him here and ask him randomly about the request. Make sure Fei _jie_ is nearby, pretend to be discreet but make sure she listened. Sicheng too, you should pipe in. She has a soft spot for me and you, Sicheng, it'll work," Yongqin grinned.

"I can't believe we're going in this direction," Sicheng groaned. They knew Chief Fan’s wife personally because she was originally from their hometown, and he never knew there’d be a day he’d suck up to her like this.

"It's time for you to put your dramatic ass to good use. Brush up your acting skill," Yongqin shrugged and smiled when Jia came with 4 cups of coffee.

"What are you waiting for, _ge_? That's the chief," Dejun grinned.

They all watched as their chief greeted his wife with kiss on the cheek and a sweet little hug, causing Yongqin to swoon and for Dejun to gag. Sicheng looked far more concerned about asking his chief about Qi Meili rather than observing his love life. And Kun? Simply observing his friends.

"Honey, Yongqin and the detectives from your place is here!" Fei tapped her husband's arm and Zhoumi turned around to see his 3 bright detectives bowing their head awkwardly and a chirpy looking Yongqin.

"Fancy seeing you guys here, well, except Dr. Li and Sicheng. You're a regular here for years," he smiled.

"We were just passing by, Chief. And I seriously missed Fei _jie_ ’s coffee and macarons. It tasted way better than the one from the bakery near the precinct!" Yongqin grinned.

Kun let out a small smile. The 'just passing by' part was clearly a lie, Kun could see Yongqin's lips twitching as he said that. But the coffee and macaron things were genuine since he was sincerely devouring them.

"Really? Keep coming here then, good for my economy," Chief Fan joked as he sat naturally next to Kun.

"Anyways, Chief, we got some new info. Kun _ge_ can tell you that," Sicheng decided to speak up.

"Hm? About the case? Eh, oh, thanks sweetheart," he smiled when his wife came with a cup of coffee for him. Kun waited for the older guy to take a sip before explaining.

"Kind of? Qi Meili, one of our potential targets, has an abusive ex—"

"You told me that in the meeting already, Kun. Asking for extra security won't work. The directors already complained about our budgeting," Chief Fan sighed.

"We have CCTV footages, of her ex slapping her. We need to be suspicious of him," Kun insisted, trying to pull off a pleading look. Dejun nodded and Sicheng glanced at Fei who looked concerned when his husband had a stern face and his 3 subordinates looking anxious.

So Sicheng jumped in and pulled the best kicked puppy look he could muster without damaging his manly pride. Yongqin grinned when he saw the three thirty something men trying to suck up their Chief.

As if fate, Fei came with pastries. "You guys looked tense," Fei said calmly.

"Yeah, _jie._ One of our potential victims has an abusive ex and is currently a target of a murder. Can you imagine that? Poor girl," Yongqin said dejectedly.

"What? Qin- _er_! That's scary! Domestic violence is a huge concern nowadays. Did you guys put her in a protection program? It's not safe, being her," Fei said.

"See? Chief? I just don't want to deal with another body popping up in our precinct. Better safe than sorry," Kun nodded.

Fei shuddered at his sentence, "Listen to these young detectives, honey. He was right. Ah, poor, poor victim girl..." she trailed and patted her husband's back before disappearing to take an order.

Chief Fan exhaled loudly, "Fine, I'll ask the directors first. It might not be easy. This is not your primary concern, please focus on the—"

"Murder. We know, Chief. We collaborated with VCU to find out more about the abusive ex," Kun nodded.

"Alright, keep looking then,” the chief nodded.

Yongqin grinned and winked at his friends.

 _I can't believe it worked!,_ Sicheng silently mouthed to Yongqin with a surprised look.

Yongqin winked playfully at him.

Kun smiled contentedly. Dr. Li Yongqin really has useful tricks up his sleeves.

* * *

Yongqin glanced at the desk calendar in his office.

May 31st.

Time is ticking. And he felt restless.

He stood up and decided, he'll just bug the three detectives. Luck was not really on his side because when he went upstairs, the three lads were nowhere to be found. He checked the meeting rooms and the pantry, zilch.

He turned on his cellphone, wanting to call Sicheng or Kun when he heard Detective Xiao Dejun's signature boisterous laughter. He was conversing with the two CSI twins and the IT officer.

"Dr. Li Yongqin," he grinned as he greeted him.

“Hi!” The three other officers waved their hands.

"Where's the others?" Yongqin asked.

"Kun _ge_ 's dealing with Qi Meili’s case. He's meeting with the VCU upstairs. Sicheng's out and about, the precinct finally allowed to give Qi Meili extra security details. An officer will tail her around for now," Dejun explained.

"And you?" Yongqin raised a brow in a playful manner and Dejun laughed. "I just got back from visiting Han Hui. She seemed fine, nothing too weird, unlike Qi Meili’s case where she's being constantly haunted by that bastard ex of hers. Ask Yangyang!”

Officer Liu Yangyang grinned, “I double checked the CCTV footages of her place and search the perimeter—everything's normal."

"That's ...good to hear."

"I know. But that doesn't mean we can slack. We're dividing tasks right now. Kun _ge_ 's still squirming his ways with the chief and the directors on his neck. Sicheng _ge_ is helping to take care Qi Meili and I got Han Hui in my hands."

"Should I be concerned about Zhou Jieqiong then…?”

"You don't have to, Dr. Li! It's not on your job description to keep tabs on targets like this. It's our job. You've done your part well, even helping us piece the puzzle together," Dejun patted his shoulders.

He might have only known Dr. Li for a few weeks, but he had grown fond of the spunky doctor who was Sicheng’s close friend. He's a gem.

"I just want to help. I was dragged to this precinct, to this exact unit and exact team to be a form of help," Yongqin sulked.

One of the CSI twins, the taller one, laughed.

“You should pay us a visit in the CSI office then, Dr. Li! We’d love some help as well!”

“Yeah, Xuxi and I would love to have some company!”

“Or drop by my desk with Dejun! I have the hottest gossips in the whole precinct!” Yangyang squeaked.

Yongqin laughed at the three younger dudes.

Unbeknownst to the four people, Kun had already finished his discussion with the VCU and was heading downstairs when he heard their conversation. As expected of the little lion Li Yongqin. He had a fire within him and Kun's not sure if someone could extinguish it. He was more than pumped up to work and solve this case once and for all. He reminded him of himself—eager and passionate, always wanting to move out and about.

He cleared his throat, "Well, you could help me if you'd like to, Yongqin.”

“ _Da ge!”_ The four guys yelled.

Yongqin whipped his head and grinned with his eyes gleaming when he saw Kun by the stairs. "I'd love to!"

Kun smiled, "Want to see how an interrogation works?"

"Oh, I can?"

Kun nodded, "Of course. The VCU managed to track down Wu Shihuan and is bringing him for interrogation. They needed me to observe him. You could be a tremendous help if you could also be there to pick up some fine details."

Yongqin's eyes gleamed and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Xiaojun? You coming?" Kun asked.

"Nah. I’ll stay here and talk some more with Xuxi, Guanheng, and Yangyang. Go ahead and bring some good news," Dejun waved at them, and the tree other officers grinned.

“Bye, _da ge_!”

Kun smiled fondly at the four younger guys and turned around, motioning Yongqin to follow him through a hallway to a secluded area. "This is the interrogation room. The real room is behind these glasses. Officer Han will be the one leading the interrogation but he's going to need me inside. You'll be fine out here alone in the control room, right?" Kun asked.

"I'll be more than fine. Go ahead, I'll record everything in my head and try to pick up some details," Yongqin smiled.

Kun flashed him a grin and playfully tapped his forehead before entering the room.

Yongqin stared ahead nervously. Wu Shihuan was seated and he looked borderline annoyed. Officer Han and Kun sat across him, not saying anything yet. But Yongqin knew better, Kun already started his analysis before Wu Shihuan spoke up.

He could see the way his eyes move, scanning Wu Shihuan not so discreetly, but his expression remained calm and composed. He looked stoic and as cool as a cucumber even though deep inside Yongqin swore this is when Detective Qian Kun looked the hottest.

_Get a grip, Li Yongqin. Don't be hormonal!_

He scolded himself as he gazed into Detective Qian's brown eyes who were calculating and strong as he stared into Wu Shihuan’s eyes. He then noticed Officer Han talking so he shook his head and focused.

"Wu Shihuan, where were you on April 30th?" Officer Han asked.

He had been briefed about the murder case before, and he's here to help Kun test Wu Shihuan's alibis.

"I'm at Meili's apartment," the man answered shortly.

"Are you sure?"

"Go ask that wench if you don't believe me," Wu Shihuan rolled his eyes.

Kun nodded. The man before him is agitated, impatient. But one thing he knew, is that the man is not lying.

Either that, or he's really good at masking his emotions.

* * *

"What do you think?" Kun asked Yongqin as they went down the stairs to go back to his desk.

"I don't want to become a party pooper but I think… he's not the one we're looking for. I mean, don't get me wrong, he still needs to be punished for what he has done to Qi Meili, but there's no real motives for murder. Especially since he has no relation with our two previous victims."

Kun nodded, "I thought the same way too. He was too consistent to be considered lying. His body language clearly showed he was serious about his comments. He wasn't our killer."

"Who wasn't our killer?"

Both Kun and Yongqin was startled when Sicheng appeared suddenly from the pantry. Yongqin jumped and nearly slipped from the stairs if it wasn't for Kun's quick reflexes to catch his elbow.

"Don't come up like that, it's irritating," Yongqin sulked and Sicheng grinned.

"Sorry, _ge_. Anyways, Xiaojun told me you guys interrogated Wu Shihuan," Sicheng asked as they walked to their desks.

"Yeah, we did," Kun nodded as he sat on top of his desk, letting Yongqin took his chair since the usual spare swivel chair he pulled for him is nowhere in sight.

"How was it, guys?" Xiaojun who was sitting alone on his desk asked curiously.

"He's not our killer. That, I'm sure," Kun answered.

"100%?"

"Maybe 95%. It's not just instinct, it's just that he didn't show signs of lying. VCU is trying to find CCTV footages to determine his whereabouts and check on his alibis so it'll take time. I offered help but they shrugged it off."

"We're short on time," Sicheng sighed.

"We have two days," Yongqin mused.

"At least we got an officer tailing Qi Meili everywhere. He's reporting to me every two hours or whenever they moved," Kun said.

"How about Han Hui?" Sicheng asked.

"The upper heads refused. We don't have solid evidence that she's endangered, unlike Qi Meili. We only knew she's 30, used to live in the States, and had tattoos. And that, to them, is just assumptions. It's not worth the money," Dejun shook his head.

"Shit. What do we do then?" Sicheng asked.

"I've been tracking her and Qi Meili. By GPS. Officer Liu Yangyang helped me install this techy app that can track her. So far, nothing mysterious. And Qi Meili's whereabouts according to my tracker and according to the officer’s report aligned. I’m so thankful for Yangyang’s extensive tech ability," Kun said.

"And where is Qi Meili now?" Sicheng asked.

Kun opened his phone and showed everyone his screen.

"A psychiatrist office. Apparently, after the toxic relationship she endured, followed with the break-up up with Wu Shihuan, as well as being stalked and taunted by him, she suffered from depression," Kun answered softly.

"Poor girl. So, she's in a consultation right now?" Yongqin asked.

"The dot hasn't moved in two hours and the officer hasn't informed me yet. But I'll give the officer a call to make sure," Kun sighed before punching in the officer's number.

They all waited patiently for Kun to finish his call.

"She just finished her consultation. The officer said they're stopping by a pharmacy to buy the prescribed medicines. Antidepressants, I guess," Kun explained.

"Alright. So now we wait?"

"Now we wait and observe, and pray to God nothing's going wrong."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! so... wu shihuan... seems like he's not the killer. then who? ;)
> 
> twitter: @nauranindyaa


	12. alteplase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bad feeling wasn't just a feeling after all. But then, there's barely anything the quartet can do when they only have a crime scene and no body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: mentions of self-harm, but nothing graphic.

Kun is the epitome of restlessness right now. It's a given. Today's June 2nd. So far, nothing's out of the ordinary. The officer is still reporting around the clock, and Qi Meili is still safe and sound in her office space.

"Hey, calm down. We have two officers now guarding her. It'll be fine. We can mess up the pattern," Sicheng calmed his friend down.

"I'm scared, Cheng. What if she's indeed fine, but then there's another victim? What if we misinterpreted something?"

"Look, _ge_ , we've done our best with the minimal number of clues we had. Right now, all we can do is pray."

Kun nodded, touching the cross pendant hanging on his neck. He's not the most religious guy out there—at least not as religious as the others, but he believed in praying. And that's what he's been doing so far. His heart beat paced up and when he saw an incoming call from the officer.

"Yes?"

" _Detective Qian. Miss Qi is exiting her office for dinner with her friends in a cafeteria nearby. I told Officer Zhong to check the perimeter while I'm keeping an eye on Miss Qi. She agreed on going home straight away after work._ "

"Thank you so much, Officer Yi," Kun finally let out a relieved sigh, knowing that Qi Meili is alive and breathing.

 _"She's taking her medication regularly, but she does seem a bit unenergetic._ "

"Really? I thought she just met her psychiatrist?"

" _I thought so too, Detective. She seems weak and down. She got a nosebleed earlier, she said it’s because of the stress._ "

"Goodness gracious… Well, please keep her safe, Officer Yi."

" _I will_."

Kun disconnected the call and sighed again.

"What's wrong, _ge_?" Dejun asked.

"Huh? Just received an update about Qi Meili. So far there's no threat, it's just she seemed weak and down, probably from stress. She even got a nosebleed from it," Kun explained.

"She's taking antidepressant, right? What kinds?" Yongqin asked.

"I'm not too sure. I'll go ask first." Kun made a quick call and thanked Officer Yi before turning back to Yongqin.

"Wait, the name's a bit difficult. Flu... Fluox…"

"Fluoxetine?"

"Yes, that!"

"Nosebleed, huh? If I’m not mistaken, common side effects of most antidepressants might include insomnia, restlessness, and anxiety; something that still deals with psychological problems. It might mess around with the cardiovascular system too, but to my knowledge, nothing about nosebleeds," Yongqin explained.

"So, is it because of the stress?"

"I can't make a decision without seeing her myself. But it's very probable. Stress does… bad things to the body. So, Detective Qian, don’t get too stressed," Yongqin grinned, causing Kun to chuckle.

"You know, it's dinner time. Let's grab some takeaways and camp at my apartment. Kun _ge,_ you need some distractions," Sicheng said as he grabbed his keys.

Yongqin and Dejun nodded and followed him, understanding that their team leader is teetering on the edge right now. Twenty minutes later, they're all sprawled on Sicheng's living room, eating spicy noodles.

"He should report back to me in half an hour," Kun said as he glanced at his phone restlessly.

"I believe he will, _ge_. Let's hope for the best," Dejun patted his leader’s back.

Yongqin proposed to brew some tea to calm everyone down.

"You know what? I'll go patrol at Han Hui's residence. At least we have officers tailing for Qi Meili," Dejun stood up and grabbed Sicheng’s car keys.

"Huh?"

"I know you're tense and worried so I'll go to Han Hui's residence," Dejun smiled at his team leader.

"Should I go to Qi Meili’s then?" Sicheng asked, standing up as well.

"No, no. I need to clear my head. You stay here, just, I don’t know, keep Yongqin company, I'll go there myself. Plus, this is your place," Kun said.

"I can go with you, Kun. Sicheng can go with Detective Xiao," Yongqin offered.

"Nah, nah. It's okay. You c—"

"It's alright, _ge_. It's better to keep moving. And plus, just loitering around just made us all wary. I’ll go with Dejun, you can go with Yongqin," Sicheng smiled and patted Kun's shoulder.

“Like I said, don’t get too stressed. At least not alone, we’ll get stressed with you,” Yongqin grinned and put on his coat before nudging Kun outside.

Despite Kun's protests, everyone fled the apartment to visit their targets.

* * *

Yongqin exited the car and Kun locked it before going into the apartment.

"I hope everything's fine," Yongqin said as he fiddled with the sleeve buttons of his coat.

"Officer Yi just texted me. Let’s still go there to verify. The stakes are high if the bodies kept coming. We'll be facing the prosecutors next," Kun said as they entered the elevator.

"Is it a bad thing?"

"We respected the prosecutors, but there's tension you know, between us the detectives with prosecutors. And they tend to take…. full control of investigation. And you of all people should know that no one, including me, and especially Sicheng—we don't like being bossed around," Kun smiled bitterly.

Yongqin nodded understandingly as the elevator opened when they arrived in the 7th floor.

"Unit 708 right?" Kun asked.

Yongqin nodded as he followed him out. Kun walked with his long strides and paused when he saw the unit 708 door was opened wide.

"Yongqin?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Wait here," he said firmly before jogging inside, jumping in shock when he saw Officer Yi unconscious on the floor.

The room was not messy in any way. This isn't robbery for sure.

"Officer Yi!"

Hearing Kun's loud voice, Yongqin rushed inside.

"Kun! What's—Oh my god!" Yongqin bent down and quickly knelt beside the body.

"I'll call 120, you can go check on Qi Meili’s place," Yongqin said to Kun.

He quickly whipped out his phone and put it on loud speaker as he checked on Officer Yi's body.

" _Hello, 120, how may I help you?_ "

"Hi, I'm Li Yongqin, I'm a forensic doctor and I found someone unconscious."

 _"Alright. And where are you right now, Mr. Li?_ "

"I'm in BX Apartment Complex, seventh floor, unit 708. It's only a few minutes’ drive from Beijing Haidian District Police Station."

_"Alright, we'll send help there. Meanwhile, I'm going to ask you some questions regarding the patient. Have you checked on the patient Mr. Li?"_

"Yes. He’s a police officer, age around 30 years old. Airway is free from obstructions; the patient is breathing. Pulse is slow but steady. He was supposed to be on guard, and it's possible he was made unconscious. Let me check on his head if there's any trauma. There is no blood trace," Yongqin reported before moving to the head to lift it up carefully.

" _We're sending an ambulance there. It will arrive in less than 10 minutes. Meanwhile. please keep reporting, sir._ "

"No trace of blunt trauma, probably just contusion from falling. I think he was made unconscious with some form of anesthesia. I've put him on a recovery position to prevent obstruction."

" _Okay. Stay with us and thank you so much for your cooperation, sir._ "

* * *

Kun's first instinct was to check the bedroom. It was vacant but the bed was kind of messy as if someone just laid there.

"Miss Qi?" He called out as he opened the bathroom. His breath hitched when he saw some smeared blood on the white tiles. There's also a razor with blood traces on it. He didn't bring any gloves so he refrained from touching it. He took out his phone and quickly opened Officer Liu Yangyang’s GPS tracking application. Qi Meili’s location is… in her apartment?

This is weird.

He quickly called Yangyang.

“Hello? Officer Liu?”

_“Da ge! What’s wrong?”_

“I’m in Qi Meili’s place. She’s gone missing. Officer Yi was knocked out. Strangely, her coordinate is located in this apartment.”

_“Huh? Wait, let me open up my laptop. I’m already at home. Okay… Let’s see… Yeah! Her location is in her place! I installed the tracker on her phone. That means she left her phone in her apartment before she left!”_

“Fuck. How about CCTV?”

“ _Shit. Da ge… The access was blocked. Someone hacked into my system. Wait okay, I’ll try to get it recovered but no promises. Ugh, this is why our precinct sucked! They can’t afford a stronger firewall!”_

“Jesus Christ… Okay. Yangyang… Thank you. I’ll call Sicheng first.”

Kun groaned as he pressed Sicheng’s number.

"Hello? Sicheng?"

" _Oh, ge! What's up? Han Hui is fine and she just went to her relative's house just to be safe. We're heading back to my place now. How's Qi?_ "

"Sicheng… Officer Yi is unconscious and Qi Meili is missing. I'm going to call CSI so please come here fast."

* * *

Sicheng ran as fast as he could out of his car when he saw an ambulance drove past the lobby and Yongqin is standing in front of the entrance.

"Yongqin _ge_!”

"Oh, Sicheng! Officer Yi is alright, he was not injured. He was only made unconscious. No syringe stab marks or signs of injuries, so he was probably chloroformed."

"Where's Kun _ge_?"

"Upstairs with CSI. The Huang twins just came with the CSI team."

Dejun jogged to the entrance and watched Yongqin and Sicheng’s concerned faces.

"Xiaojun, can you go to the hospital where Officer Yi is? Try to get his statements after he woke up. Yongqin _ge_ , have you checked the apartment?" Sicheng asked, throwing his car keys to Dejun.

"No, I was staying with Officer Yi until the EMS dispatchers came. Let's go upstairs. I have the whole apartment memorized like the back of my hand. I'll go see if something has changed."

Dejun nodded before jogging back to Sicheng’s car to go to the nearest hospital. Sicheng followed Yongqin up to Qi Meili’s unit, finding the front door already plastered with police lines. Kun is conversing with Guanheng, one of the Huang Twins.

" _Ge_!"

"Oh, Cheng. Come here." Kun showed a plastic bag that has a razor in it.

"This is the murder weapon?"

"Could be. The CSI will bring it back to the precinct to see if the killer left any fingerprints."

"Which is quite unlikely. The killer has been very meticulous. But still, don’t worry _da ge_ , Xuxi and I will examine it closely," Guanheng said before leaving.

"Can I go inside? I know how the apartment looks normally," Yongqin piped up.

"Let me show you something first," Kun said as he pulled Yongqin into the bedroom.

"The bed is quite messy," Yongqin noted.

"She must've been in her bed at some time. But check the bathroom," Kun said.

Yongqin paused when he saw the smeared blood on the floor.

"This is exactly how it looks when I first saw it," Kun said as he showed him a picture on his phone.

"It's probably blood drippings that were wiped. Are there any used tissues?"

"There were none on the bin. She could’ve used her clothes or her own hand to wipe it. I’ve asked Xuxi and Guanheng to take DNA samples."

Yongqin nodded and then he spotted a fallen bottle near the bathtub and some drugs falling out of it.

"Her medicine," Yongqin mused as he approached it.

"Gloves," Kun offered him a pair and took a picture of it while Yongqin put on his gloves. He picked up a tablet and examined it closely.

"Qi Meili was consuming Fluoxetine, right?"

"I forgot the name of the drug, but I think so. I mean, you're the one with the great memory."

Yongqin shook his head, "This isn't Fluoxetine. This is a whole another drug. The bottle does say Fluoxetine. But it's clearly not Fluoxetine. I know how it looks."

"Let me call Xiaojun to ask Officer Yi once he wakes up, where Qi Meili bought his medicine. Feel free to look around," Kun patted his shoulder.

Yongqin nodded as he inspected the bathroom. There was nothing unusual. He knew for sure that Qi Meili had depression. And the Kun found used razor with blood on it. There's an opened bottle of drugs on the floor. There are a lot of possibilities. He disposed his gloves and went outside to see Kun and Sicheng conversing with the security guards.

"CCTV?" He asked when he noticed them standing underneath it.

"Tampered. Seems like our killer hacked into the CCTV system. Yangyang couldn't access the footage. He's still trying to regain access," Kun sighed.

"The apartment building's CCTV? Not ours," Yongqin asked again.

"They're still checking on it. There's no witness in the lobby since the guard was on shift exchange," Sicheng piped in.

"Officer Zhong? Officer Yi had a partner, right?"

"Yes. But Officer Zhong was patrolling outside the apartment when it happened. He's talking with the guards right now."

"Let's ask for a copy of the CCTV footages and then watch it in the precinct. We could also discuss everything there while waiting for Xiaojun," Kun said in resolution.

"Oh, and Kun? You said Qi Meili’s coordinates on the GPS app showed that she's here, right? Where's her cellphone?" Yongqin asked.

"Here. Xuxi found it on couch. The killer must've left it here to throw us off guard," Kun sighed, jiggling the zip lock bag containing Qi Meili’s phone.

"Wait… but Officer Yi texted you right? When we arrived? Was it him or the killer?"

"I'll call Xiaojun to check on Officer Yi. We’ll send the phone to Yangyang too, see if he can find something in it. For now, let's get back to the precinct."

* * *

"Here. Freshen up first," Yongqin said as he put down two cups of iced americano in front of the two brooding detectives. He set down the remaining two for him and Detective Xiao who's still in the hospital. He sat down on the chair next to Kun and opened his cellphone, in need to do a little research while the two detectives peered over CCTV footages in their laptops. He opened the browser and looked up on Fluoxetine. He has never been depressed but a friend of him has and he had seen Fluoxetine before. And it was not anything like the one he saw on Qi Meili’s bathroom.

"Kun…"

"Hmm?"

Yongqin showed his screen to him, "I was right. It wasn't Fluoxetine. Someone swapped her medications," he said.

"What? Gosh. Let's ask the CSI if they have identified the medicine," Kun grumbled as he fished his phone to give one of the Huang Twins a ring.

"Hello? Oh, Xuxi. Hey, I was just wondering if the CSI had anything discovered yet," Kun said as he put the phone on loud speaker.

" _Da ge! Uh, we checked on the razor. It has only Qi Meili’s fingerprints. The blood also has her DNA. There's not a single trace of any other person aside from herself. If you’re asking about fingerprints on the bathroom floor, they’re all hers as well._ "

"That's weird. Was she harming herself then?" Sicheng raised his brows, muttering to himself.

"How about the medicine Officer Huang? Have you checked on them? I'm pretty sure they're not Fluoxetine," Yongqin joined in.

 _"Is this Dr. Li? Well, you're right, Dr. Li. According to our database it's a type of cardiovascular drugs. Wait what's the name again, Guanheng? Oh, Alteplase. That's it._ "

Yongqin frowned.

"Alteplase? That's used for myocardial infarction! Qi Meili is 30 years old female, which is quite unlikely to have myocardial infarction. She's not obese as well!"

The two detectives turned to him in confusion.

"Someone swapped the drugs. But who?"

Yongqin closed his eyes and think. Alteplase?

" _Well, that's one revelation. If I'm not needed anymore, I'll get going first. There's still some evidence I have to check._ "

The group jolted when Xuxi talked from the phone.

"O-oh, yeah. Thanks a lot, Xuxi," Kun said before ending the call.

"What's the side effect of alteplase?" Sicheng asked.

"Alteplase is used to break up blood clots to prevent emboli inside the heart's vessels. Too much alteplase equals increased bleeding risk..." Yongqin trailed before pausing.

"Wait… there were blood on the floor!" Yongqin balked, "Will she be bled to death? Oh my god. But wait. The killer has been consistent so far. He always made the MO seemed like suicide. Drug overdose and then consequence. Does that mean…."

"She cuts herself?" Kun raised a brow.

"It's possible since she's depressed. When people are in a highly depressed mood, how do I explain it, hmm? The neurotransmitter in their brain got rogue, and it could lead them to doing harmful things because they're not in the right state of mind. Cutting and bloodletting are forms of self-harm that were, unfortunately, quite popular," Yongqin grimaced.

"We need Officer Yi to wake up soon. There are too many questions to ask. We have less than three days before Qi Meili’s body is sent to this precinct," Kun groaned.

"Xiaojun hasn't called us yet. We need to keep moving. Shall we go to the hospital?" Sicheng offered.

"Yes, please. I'm getting antsy here not doing anything," Kun readily agreed as he stood up and grabbed his coat.

Kun drove to the hospital as fast as he could and they all rushed to the ER as Kun gave his keys to the valet. They spotted Detective Xiao Dejun sitting next to the hospital bed where Officer Yi is sleeping at.

"Hey, guys. Why are you all here?" He stood up immediately.

"Officer Yi is a crucial witness to Qi Meili’s disappearance and probable murder. We need him to wake up soon," Kun said.

"Who was the doctor that handled him? How's he?" Yongqin asked.

"That guy near the reception desk was the one who took care of him. He said that he was indeed sedated. Dr. Li was right. It was chloroform," Dejun nodded.

"I'll go talk to him," Yongqin nodded. He walked towards the reception desk and gasped when he noticed the doctor Detective Xiao was talking about.

"Li Yongqin?"

"Senior Huang!" Yongqin bowed, noticing Huang Zitao, his senior from medical school and also his anatomy tutor back then.

"Wow, I haven't seen you in years. How are you? You're not sick right?" The tall man smiled.

"I missed you too, senior. Actually, I wasn't sick. I worked as a forensic specialist for Haidian precinct now. We're working on a murder case and one of our officers is…. here. the one you treated."

"Oh, Patient Yi En?"

"Yes. Him. He was sedated?"

"Yes. Chloroform. The amount is pretty big, like the dosage you’d use for surgery. He's still out, considerably. We can't flush chloroform out of someone's system so we can only wait until he wakes up while maintaining his vitals. It will probably take another hour or so and he'll be extremely drowsy and slightly disoriented when he wakes up, so I don't recommend questioning him right away."

Yongqin nodded, "I'll tell the detectives that. It's nice to see you again, Senior Huang. You used to be my tutor and my mentor."

"And it's great to see you venturing into your line of job, Yongqin. You were a bright kid and you had so many potentials in you. Glad you take this path. Now, I'm sorry but I think I have to go. New patient. Nice to see you again, Qin."

"Likewise, Senior Huang," Yongqin smiled as the older man left.

Yongqin trotted back to the three detectives. "Officer Yi was heavily sedated. Heavily as in like he was about to go into surgery. He won't wake up in an hour or so and he won't be able to be questioned right after he wakes up. His mind will be in a total fog," Yongqin reported.

"God. What are we supposed to do then?"

"Rest. I think that's our best move. We have three—wait, it's nearly midnight now. Well then, two days before Qi Meili’s body showed up. We're going to pull an awful lot of all-nighter. So, we should rest while we could," Yongqin announced.

"But, Yongqin. Listen. We—"

"I know. But there's nothing that we can do now besides waiting for reports on the CCTV footages and waiting for Officer Yi to wake up and regain consciousness. All we can do is wait," Yongqin argued.

"He's right. Or, you know what? Let's take shifts. Let's sleep an hour each."

"An hour and a half. You guys need rest," Yongqin negotiated.

"Fine with me. I could use some sleep. Or make it two hours. But two people sleep at the same time," Dejun added.

"I'm on board with anything. Dejun, you sleep first. Rest your mind, you're going to squeeze your brain out tomorrow," Kun nodded.

"And you?"

"I'm going to go back home to fetch some clothes. I'll bring you guys some change. It should fit," Kun said as he stood up.

"Can I come with you? I'll go home and change, and bring some clothes for Sicheng," Yongqin stood up as well.

"That sounds like a solid plan," Sicheng said.

"So now what? I sleep?" Dejun raised his brows.

"Yes. And I'll guard. You go to sleep first," Sicheng urged his younger friend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun dun, where's the body?? *in the tone of ten and his infamous where's my hair meme*

**Author's Note:**

> scream to me on twt @nauranindyaa !! if you're a fellow medical students/interns, or if you're interested in medical stuffs, do hit me up! i love being geeky and discussing about medical stuffs! or just yell at me about wayv/nct stuff, i lack weishennies/nctzen friends:(


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